“Over the past many years, the Russian side ... has informed our Turkish and European colleagues that persons suspected of being linked to terrorism ... find shelter both in Turkey and in a number of other European countries,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
“In most cases, such signals from the Russian side have not been given proper attention or any reaction by our colleagues. To our regret, these (Istanbul attacks) can be a consequence of such disregard,” he added.
On June 28, a gun and bombing attack tore through crowds at Istanbul’s Ataturk international airport, leaving 45 people dead and more than 200 others injured. Of those wounded, 47 people are still in hospital.
Airport employees attend a ceremony for their friends killed in the June 28 attack at the Ataturk airport in Istanbul, on June 30, 2016. ©Reuters
Turkish authorities have identified the bombers as a Russian, an Uzbek and a Kyrgyz national. According to the conservative Turkish daily newspaper Yeni Safak, the Russian attacker was from the troubled North Caucasus region of Dagestan.
The daily identified the organizer of the Istanbul airport carnage as Akhmed Chatayev, noting that the Chechen man is believed to be responsible for training Russian-speaking Daesh (ISIS / ISIL) militants.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday blamed the fatal attack on Daesh elements from the ex-Soviet Union.
“The incident is of course completely within the framework of Daesh, a process conducted with their methods. There are people from Dagestan, from Kyrgyzstan, from Tajikistan," he said.
"Unfortunately, people from neighboring northern Caucasus countries are involved in this business,” Erdogan told reporters after attending a morning prayer in Istanbul to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.
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