Aksu: Important Measures Are Taken For Nato Summit

ANKARA - Turkish Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said on Tuesday that they took very important measures for the NATO summit scheduled to take place in Istanbul.
Aksu replied to questions of reporters regarding the 24 people who were detained as they were getting prepared for an attack targeting NATO summit in Istanbul.
Aksu said there was nothing that would endanger NATO summit, stating that, ''those people were detained as a result of the operations which the intelligence organizations launched long ago. Every measure is being taken ahead of the summit.''
When asked whether or not the operations would continue, Aksu said, ''there won't be a continuation. It was one group and they've been detained.''
Turkish police detained 16 people on Monday, who were getting prepared for a bomb attack targeting a NATO summit in Istanbul on June 28-29, in Bursa province in Marmara Region. The detainees who were reported to have links with Ansar al-Islam were planning a bomb attack also on a synagogue in the province.
In a separate operation on Monday, police detained nine people in Istanbul on charges of having links with the illegal Ansar al-Islam organization in Istanbul.
Ansar al-Islam is a militant group accused by Washington of being an ally of al Qaeda and a force behind attacks on U.S. troops occupying Iraq.
Turkish police are stepping up security in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city and commercial hub, before the NATO summit, where Iraq will feature on the leaders' agenda.
Istanbul suffered a series of devastating suicide truck bomb attacks targeting Neve Shalom Synagogue and Beth Israel Synagogue on November 15, 2003 and on HSBC Bank headquarters and British Consulate General in Istanbul on November 20, 2003 in which 61 people were killed and more than 700 people were injured. Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for those attacks. Turkish police captured 69 people in connection with the suicide attacks. Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) will start hearing trial of the 69 suspects in Istanbul on May 31, 2004.
(AY-AÖ) 04.05.2004