Turkish authorities have arrested 17 more people, suspected in the terrorist attack at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport. Turkish media claim that most of them are the citizens of Russia. Turkish authorities suspect a native of Chechnya, Ahmed Chatayev, in the organization of the terrorist attack.
"Chechen people are well aware of what terrorism is. We destroyed this evil at the cost of hundreds of thousands of casualties. The problem still exists as long as there are extremely dangerous criminals that fled from Chechnya abroad. They are on the international wanted list. But the West does not tell ... Who is Chatayev? Austrian citizen, has Georgian passport, personally knows Saakashvili. In over 13 years special services of Belgium, Sweden, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Georgia, Turkey were dealing with Chatayev ... There is a green light everywhere! He left Russia as an ordinary bandit. We grew and was made into terrorist in Austria, Georgia and Turkey. With the support of special services, in Austria, he gathered huge amounts of money for famous terrorist leader Hussein Gakaev, which is responsible for the death of hundreds of people. Chatayev in on the federal wanted list, but he is a political refugee for Austria. In 2011, he attempted to break into Chechnya from Georgia with militants, recruited in Austria. He was detained and released on the orders of Georgian senior officials. He stayed in Turkey and Syria since 2013. It is impossible that Turkish special services did not know what he was doing," Acting head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page.
According to him, "while trying to 'annoy' Russia, Western, Georgian and other special services raised Chatayev, and if he was involved in the events in Istanbul, they must bear responsibility for this and stop trying to blame Chechnya."
Kadyrov called on Turkish President to make decision on the extradition of terrorists who, according to his information, are staying in Turkey, and he unveiled their list: Tarhan Gaziyev, Ahmad Umarov, Ahmad Pataev, Shirvani Basayev, Mahran Saidov, Rizvan Yakubov and Osama Yakubov, Aslanbek Vadalov, Movsar Chatayev, Hadi Alaskhanov, Rustam Naurbaev and their ideological mentor - Movladi Udugov.
Kadyrov was also supported by the first deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Security and Countering Corruption, Magomed Vakhaev, who stated that the terrorists of Russian origin who fled to Turkey should be returned and convicted in their homeland.
At the same time, as the head of Chechnya believes, above-mentioned Russian citizens "feel at ease at the 'Turkish coast'." "In Ankara, I personally warned then Interior Minister Beshir Atalay about their threat. I was assured that the decision on their extradition will be made, but no actions followed. My envoy met Atalay some time after that. Again, there were only promises," he complained.
It is quite possible that now, Turkish authorities will be more cautious regarding the information of the Russian side.
However, as the member of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Olga Kovitidi stated, Turkey is in a difficult geopolitical situation today: "After opening the borders and receiving 2.5 million refugees, Turkey asks the EU absolutely fair questions. But after Brexit, the EU does not hurry to accept Turkey into its ranks, to fulfill its obligations, so Ankara won't get any answers to its questions today. Just like it can't evaluate the behavior of the United States regarding Kurds. Turkey is in a state of civil war with Kurds, and so today it is impossible for Ankara to understand the US position, which recognizes Kurds and considers them to be a part of the anti-terrorist group forces."
Kovitidi also emphasized Germany's position on recognition of "Armenian genocide", unacceptable for Turkey.
