Victims Of Last Year's Istanbul Bomb Attacks Commemorated In London

LONDON - Victims of last year's bomb attacks on British Consulate General and HSBC Bank headquarters in Turkish commercial hub Istanbul were commemorated in British capital of London on Tuesday.
Prince Charles and British Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Jack Straw, Turkey's Ambassador to Britain, Akin Alptuna, and British Ambassador to Turkey, Peter Westmacott, were among people who assisted the ceremony held at the historical St. Martin's Church in London.
Relatives of the victims and 28 people from Turkey were also in attendance in the ceremony which was closed to the press.
Straw said during the meeting that violence was the biggest enemy of humanity, it was learned.
Istanbul suffered a series of devastating suicide truck bomb attacks targeting HSBC Bank headquarters and British Consulate General on November 20, 2003, in which 33 people died, including British Consul General in Istanbul Roger Short, and 450 others were injured.
Al-Qaeda organization claimed responsibility for those attacks. Turkish police arrested 69 people in connection with the suicide attacks.
(BRC-ULG) 14.09.2004