Turkish officials have refuted claims
from Thai police that the two nations were cooperating in the
investigation of last month’s bomb attack in Bangkok.
.
Turkey’s
embassy in Bangkok yesterday denied that Thai police have reached out
about a key suspect who reportedly fled to Turkey, saying it has neither
been contacted nor received reply to its own inquiries.
“Up
to now this Embassy has not been contacted by Thai authorities in this
respect, and we do not have information concerning the investigation,”
read yesterday’s statement from the embassy.
A
spokesman from Turkey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also quoted
saying Thailand has ignored requests for information regarding suspects
who reportedly fled to Turkey or were Turkish nationals.
“We
have not officially received any information about this subject from
Thailand," Tanju Bilgic said in a weekly press briefing yesterday in
Ankara, Turkey, according to Reuters.
Thai
officials have been uncomfortable acknowledging the increasingly
international links the investigation has turned up, including a roster
of foreign suspects including Turkish and Chinese nationals. Officials
had reportedly been instructed to avoid mention of international
terrorism or specific groups possibly involved in the attack which
killed 20 people, mostly foreign tourists.
It
wasn’t until Tuesday that any official credence was given to the theory
the attack was linked to an ethnic group in the far west of China and
those sympathetic to them in Turkey.
Turkish passports seized from the Pool Anant apartment in Nong Chok district on Aug 29 are displayed at the Metropolitan Police Bureau Wednesday.
.
A
day after saying the attack was linked to anger over Thailand’s
decision to deport 109 Uighurs under pressure from Beijing, Royal Thai
Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang walked that back today, saying the media
“misunderstood” his remarks.
Royal Thai Police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang today walked back statements he made yesterday attributing
the attack to anger over Thailand’s deportation of 109 Uighurs under
pressure from Beijing. Today he said the media “misunderstood” his
remarks.
Police
Gen. Somyot said he did not intend to suggest the bombing was revenge
for Thailand’s forcible repatriation in July of the Uighurs, but that
the attack was a response to recent enforcement efforts against human
smuggling operations in the kingdom.
“I
said, the bombing at Ratchaprasong Intersection was a consequence of
Thai authorities destroying a Uighur human trafficking network, which
had been going on for a long time,” he said today. “So they were angry
that their business and illegal operations came to an end.”
Yesterday
he told the press that “The attack at Ratchaprasong Intersection and
the violent incident at Thai Consulate in Turkey stem from the same
reason.”
On
9 July, Turkish nationalists stormed the Thai Consulate in Istanbul in
protest to the deportation of the Uighur refugees, who had fled China
when they were captured in March 2014. They claimed to be were
attempting to flee from alleged persecution in China’s Xinjiang province
to Turkey, which is home to a large Uighur diaspora.
Five
suspects including one man under arrest have been identified as Turkish
nationals. Another suspect in custody and one at large are Chinese
nationals from Xinjiang province, the Uighur homeland.
On
Monday, the Bangladeshi embassy in Bangkok said the one being sought as
a key suspect had flown from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Istanbul, Turkey, on
30 Aug.
Correction:
A photo caption in an earlier version of this story misidentified the
nature of the raid on a Min Buri apartment. Officers were looking for
possible suspects in the bombing but found none.
Source: Khaosod
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