ISTANBUL - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned early on Sunday the attack on the places of worship of Jewish citizens irrespective of its source.
Erdogan, who returned from Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), told reporters that the government had been against terrorism and said that terrorism did not have any religion, nation and race and they were saying and doing the same thing today.
Turkey was sensitive about the issue with all security forces, Erdogan noted.
Erdogan expressed condolences for citizens who lost their lives in the attacks and wished quick recovery for the injured.
Stating that he wanted to underline a reality, Erdogan said that he, the ministers and bureaucrats were responsible for security of lives of people living in Turkey.
Erdogan went on saying, ''therefore, the attacks saddened us. I would like to once more state that there is need to form a joint struggle platform against international terrorism due to the point terrorism has reached in the world. I believe that this issue is not national but international.''
''I believe that the security forces will find the source of the attacks in possible shortest time thanks to their efforts and our judicial organs will make what is necessary,'' Erdogan said.
Erdogan stated that they would take social steps necessary to be taken, adding, ''a delegation formed by our governor will carry out damage assessment works and our government will do what is necessary.''
Replying to questions of reporters on which organization could have staged the attacks, Erdogan said, ''the Interior Ministry continues necessary studies on the issue. A statement will be made when the time comes.''
When a reporter said, ''this attack aimed at Jewish citizens'' and asked why Turkey was chosen as the place of an attack and if it had a connection with Turkey's Iraq and Middle East policies, Erdogan said, ''we may make mistakes if we comment on this at this stage. We should firstly find evidence and then make better evaluations. The security department is working on evidences. A statement will be made after we come to a result.''
(BRC-AY) 16.11.2003