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| Turkish Extremists Take Prosecutor Hostage in Istanbul Courthouse | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| ISTANBUL — Members of a Turkish leftist terrorist group prominent during the Cold War managed to slip through tight security at Istanbul’s main courthouse Tuesday afternoon to take a well-known prosecutor hostage, the police said. Holding him at gunpoint, the group threatened to kill him if its demands were not met. | ISTANBUL — Members of a Turkish leftist terrorist group prominent during the Cold War managed to slip through tight security at Istanbul’s main courthouse Tuesday afternoon to take a well-known prosecutor hostage, the police said. Holding him at gunpoint, the group threatened to kill him if its demands were not met. |
| With reports of gunshots being heard, Turkish special forces swarmed the court building, and negotiations with the hostage takers were continuing by late afternoon. The militants are demanding justice in the death of a teenage boy after antigovernment protests nearly two years ago, according to a statement on a website affiliated with the group. The prosecutor they abducted was overseeing that case. | With reports of gunshots being heard, Turkish special forces swarmed the court building, and negotiations with the hostage takers were continuing by late afternoon. The militants are demanding justice in the death of a teenage boy after antigovernment protests nearly two years ago, according to a statement on a website affiliated with the group. The prosecutor they abducted was overseeing that case. |
| “We are working to bring the incident to an end without anyone getting hurt,” Selami Altinok, Istanbul’s police chief, said in a statement carried on Turkish television. “Negotiators are talking to the captors and we hope this incident will come to an end soon.” | “We are working to bring the incident to an end without anyone getting hurt,” Selami Altinok, Istanbul’s police chief, said in a statement carried on Turkish television. “Negotiators are talking to the captors and we hope this incident will come to an end soon.” |
| As the drama unfolded Tuesday afternoon, news channels shifted attention from what had dominated coverage all morning: a power failure across the country that shut down subways, trams and traffic lights in Istanbul. The blackout, which Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said could have been the work of terrorists, prompted speculation in the Turkish media that the assailants were able to enter the courthouse because the metal detectors were not working. | As the drama unfolded Tuesday afternoon, news channels shifted attention from what had dominated coverage all morning: a power failure across the country that shut down subways, trams and traffic lights in Istanbul. The blackout, which Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said could have been the work of terrorists, prompted speculation in the Turkish media that the assailants were able to enter the courthouse because the metal detectors were not working. |
| Later in the afternoon, as the lights were coming back on around the country, the Turkish authorities imposed a ban on news reporting at the courthouse, leaving people to follow Twitter or other social media for updates. | Later in the afternoon, as the lights were coming back on around the country, the Turkish authorities imposed a ban on news reporting at the courthouse, leaving people to follow Twitter or other social media for updates. |
| The drama evoked Turkey’s old ghosts, and its newer traumas. The Marxist group that took responsibility for infiltrating the courthouse, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, has its origins in the tumultuous 1970s, when political violence roiled the country and Turkey was a central arena for the intrigues of the Cold War. That the group’s motive was apparently related to the sweeping antigovernment demonstrations of 2013, set off by plans to raze Gezi Park in Istanbul and replace it with a shopping mall, underscored the unfinished legacy of those protests. At the time, the protests represented the greatest challenge to date to the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then the prime minister and now the president. | The drama evoked Turkey’s old ghosts, and its newer traumas. The Marxist group that took responsibility for infiltrating the courthouse, the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, has its origins in the tumultuous 1970s, when political violence roiled the country and Turkey was a central arena for the intrigues of the Cold War. That the group’s motive was apparently related to the sweeping antigovernment demonstrations of 2013, set off by plans to raze Gezi Park in Istanbul and replace it with a shopping mall, underscored the unfinished legacy of those protests. At the time, the protests represented the greatest challenge to date to the Islamist government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then the prime minister and now the president. |
| The militant group, which was responsible for a suicide attack at the United States Embassy in Ankara, the capital, in 2013, posted a photo on Twitter showing a gun being pointed at the head of Mehmet Selim Kiraz, the prosecutor overseeing the case of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who was struck by a tear-gas canister during the Gezi protests and died last year after nine months in a coma. The group’s yellow-and-red banner was seen in the background. | The militant group, which was responsible for a suicide attack at the United States Embassy in Ankara, the capital, in 2013, posted a photo on Twitter showing a gun being pointed at the head of Mehmet Selim Kiraz, the prosecutor overseeing the case of Berkin Elvan, a 15-year-old boy who was struck by a tear-gas canister during the Gezi protests and died last year after nine months in a coma. The group’s yellow-and-red banner was seen in the background. |
| With Islamic terrorism shaking the region, Tuesday’s attack felt quintessentially Turkish. “I think Turkey might be the only Middle Eastern country having a Cold War-era militant group that undertakes terrorist attacks,” Ragip Soylu, a correspondent for Sabah, a pro-government daily newspaper, wrote in a message on Twitter. | With Islamic terrorism shaking the region, Tuesday’s attack felt quintessentially Turkish. “I think Turkey might be the only Middle Eastern country having a Cold War-era militant group that undertakes terrorist attacks,” Ragip Soylu, a correspondent for Sabah, a pro-government daily newspaper, wrote in a message on Twitter. |
| Among the militants’ demands were that police officers involved in Berkin’s death confess on live television and that the officers be held responsible in court. | Among the militants’ demands were that police officers involved in Berkin’s death confess on live television and that the officers be held responsible in court. |
| In death, Berkin became a potent symbol to the largely youthful and secular Gezi protesters, sparking a new round of demonstrations last year after he died. But he also became a rallying point for Turkey’s far-left groups, including the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, that are also opposed to the government. Now that the group has carried out an attack inspired by Berkin’s death, it is likely to encourage the divisive rhetoric of Mr. Erdogan, who last year angered his opponents by calling the teenager a terrorist. | In death, Berkin became a potent symbol to the largely youthful and secular Gezi protesters, sparking a new round of demonstrations last year after he died. But he also became a rallying point for Turkey’s far-left groups, including the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front, that are also opposed to the government. Now that the group has carried out an attack inspired by Berkin’s death, it is likely to encourage the divisive rhetoric of Mr. Erdogan, who last year angered his opponents by calling the teenager a terrorist. |
| As the hostage crisis unfolded, Sami Elvan, the boy’s father, said in a statement carried by the Turkish news media: “My son died but I don’t want any other person to die. The prosecutor must be released. Blood cannot be washed away with blood.” | As the hostage crisis unfolded, Sami Elvan, the boy’s father, said in a statement carried by the Turkish news media: “My son died but I don’t want any other person to die. The prosecutor must be released. Blood cannot be washed away with blood.” |