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Turkey's Main Synagogue Reopens Tue Oct 12, 2:43 AM ET Middle East - AP By JAMES C. HELICKE, Associated Press Writer ISTANBUL, Turkey - Hundreds of Turkish Jews chanted hymns and a religious leader blew a ram's horn during the reopening of this predominantly Muslim country's main synagogue nearly a year after a suicide bombing. Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva marked the reopening Monday by carrying a Torah scroll into the Neve Shalom synagogue, one of two synagogues bombed in a string of November 2003 suicide attacks that killed more than 60 people in Istanbul. The attacks were blamed on al-Qaida....

ISTANBUL, Turkey - One of two synagogues bombed in Istanbul last month reopened Saturday for Sabbath prayers in a ceremony attended by the country's chief rabbi, a spokesman said. The reopening came four weeks after the nearly simultaneous suicide attacks on the Beth Israel and Neve Shalom synagogues during Sabbath prayers. The synagogue bombings were followed five days later by similar attacks on the British consulate in Istanbul and a London-based bank. Turkey's government suspects al-Qaida involvement in the string of attacks that killed 61 people. Jewish community spokesman Silvio Ovadya said Chief Rabbi Isak Haleva, who was among those...

December 7, 2003 Bombings and Waning Number of Jews Sap Turkey's Synagogues By CRAIG S. SMITH ISTANBUL — Leon Brudo, a fabric merchant, paused outside the pink walls of the Ahrida Synagogue, the city's oldest, and waited for Korin Sori to arrive to open up. "It's beautiful inside," Mr. Brudo, 80, said. But the city's 17 synagogues are suffering, and not only because two were bombed on Nov. 15. Those bombings, outside synagogues crowded with families at bar mitzvahs, killed at least 20 people and wounded hundreds. Just five days later, the British Consulate and a British-based bank were attacked....

Turkey Synagogue Bombing Suspect Charged ANKARA, Turkey - A suspect in the bombing of a Turkish synagogue was charged Saturday with attempting to overthrow Turkey's "constitutional order by force," the Anatolia news agency reported. The charge amounts to treason and is punishable by life in prison. The suspect in the plot — one of four deadly Istanbul suicide bombings this month — was captured while trying to slip into Iran with a fake passport, Istanbul police said Saturday. The charge formerly carried the death penalty but now is punished by life imprisonment after Turkey abolished executions as part of reforms...

ANKARA, Turkey, Nov. 29 — Police arrested a man suspected of ordering one of four deadly suicide bombings earlier this month, officials said Saturday. THE MAN was brought to the wrecked Beth Israel synagogue early Saturday, police spokesman Halil Yilmaz said. He said the man, whose identity was not released, made plans for the attack and ordered it. The suicide truck bombings on the Beth Israel synagogue and another synagogue on Nov. 15, along with the Nov. 20 bombing of the British Consulate and a British bank, killed 61 people and injured 712. The four bombers were among the dead....

<p>The ghastly attacks on two Istanbul synagogues last Saturday turned out to be just a prelude for yesterday's bombings. There is now considerable evidence that a local al Qaeda-linked group was responsible for the first attacks, in which 23 people, mostly Muslims, were killed and more than 300 wounded. Yesterday's attacks bear the same hallmarks of al Qaeda, and the death toll is growing.</p>

Turkish investigators have identified the bodies of two men suspected of carrying out Saturday's twin suicide attacks on Istanbul synagogues. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said DNA tests had shown that both men were Turks, and named them as Mesut Cabuk, 29, and Gokhan Elaltuntas, 22. The car bombings killed 23 people and injured 300 others. Mr Guler said the attacks were similar to those carried out by the al-Qaeda network of Osama Bin Laden. Most of those killed in the blasts were Muslim Turks, who lived or worked near the synagogues, or were passing by when the bombs exploded. The...

ISTANBUL - The archbishop of Canterbury on Tuesday visited a synagogue bombed in Istanbul last weekend, condemning the act as an attack on "every Muslim, Jew and Christian." Rowan Williams, leader of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, was in Istanbul for a visit with the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians. "This is a heartbreaking sight," he said outside the Neve Shalom synagogue. "In a place where the relationship between Muslims, Jews and Christians is one of cooperation and goodwill, an attack on a synagogue is an attack on every Muslim, Jew and Christian." Williams said brought with him...

ANKARA - The following is a glance at militant Islamic groups active in Turkey: IBDA-C - ISLAMIC GREAT EASTERN RAIDERS-FRONT. The group, which advocates Islamic rule in this predominantly Muslim and officially secular country, is allegedly backed by Iran. It has claimed responsibility for Saturday's pickup truck bombings outside two synagogues in Istanbul that killed 24 people, but Turkish authorities disputed the claim. Active since the mid-1970's, it has become increasingly violent in the last decade and has an estimated 600 followers. The group has staged attacks on left-wing and Christian targets as well as secular-oriented intellectuals, claiming responsibility for...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov 19, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Turkey's Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said Wednesday the suicide bombers who attacked two synagogues in Istanbul had traveled to Afghanistan, but said more investigation was needed to prove they were linked to al-Qaida. "One can't say with 100 percent certainty, but the first investigations indicate that these people have traveled a few times to Afghanistan," Gul said through a translator at a news conference in Stockholm. "I think that we need some more time to better shed light on this issue." Earlier Wednesday, Istanbul's governor said DNA tests identified the...

By ESRA AYGIN The Associated Press ISTANBUL, Turkey - Authorities arrested six people in connection with the suicide bombings of two Istanbul synagogues as opposition leaders accused Turkey's government on Wednesday of being too lenient toward Muslim radicals. The suspects include relatives of two suspected accomplices in the bombings, the Anatolia news agency said. A Turkish court charged five with "attempting to overthrow the constitutional structure," which carries a sentence of life imprisonment. A sixth person was charged with "helping illegal organizations," punishable by five years in prison, Anatolia said. No trial date has been set. Two suicide attackers, both...

<p>ISTANBUL — Two deadly synagogue bombings were carried out by Turkish militants inspired by — and perhaps working for — the al Qaeda terror network, Turkish authorities concluded yesterday.</p> <p>If al Qaeda did have a role, it would confirm suspicions that Osama bin Laden's reach extends to NATO's sole Muslim member.</p>

When I am at home, I never go near the synagogue unless, say, there is a bar or bat mitzvah involving the children of friends. But when I am traveling, in a country where Jewish life is scarce or endangered, I often make a visit to the shul. I always feel vaguely foolish doing this (the sensation of being a slight impostor is best conveyed in "Christian" terms by Philip Larkin's marvellous poem "Churchgoing") but as a result I have seen some fascinating evidences of survival in Damascus, in Havana, in Dubrovnik, in Sarajevo, and in Budapest, among other places....

ISTANBUL : Turkey's Jews came together in a high-walled cemetery in Istanbul for the funeral of six victims of the bomb attacks that tore through two synagogues in the ancient city at the weekend. Several hundred mourners, including Israeli parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin, gathered despite driving rain to bury the six who were among 25 people killed in the bombings suspected to be linked to the al-Qaeda terror network. Security was tight for the emotional ceremony, with a police helicopter circling overhead as armed police in bullet-proof vests lined neighbouring streets and conducted searches of those entering the cemetery in...

<p>ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Investigators uncovered a tattered Pakistani passport and the remains of a new victim amid the rubble of two synagogues attacked by suicide bombers over the weekend, Turkish authorities said yesterday.</p> <p>The body, discovered at the site of the first blast by an Israeli disaster team working with Turkish rescue workers, was identified by Israel Army Radio as that of Anna Rubinstein, 85. Her 8-year-old granddaughter was also killed in the attack, which occurred Saturday during Sabbath services.</p>

Turkish investigators are reportedly close to uncovering the full story behind the terror bombings of two Istanbul synagogues on Saturday morning in which 25 people were killed and over 300 wounded. Their probe has thus far revealed that the World Islamic Jihad was behind the attack. The bombings were apparently carried out in cooperation with Al-Qaida and other terror organizations. It became clear on Tuesday that the terror cell that carried out the attack was primarily made up of members of one family. The two suicide bombers were cousins and the brother of one of the bombers headed the planning...

ISTANBUL - Security cameras captured an Istanbul suicide bomber on film an instant before devastating synagogue blasts that sent a chill Monday through world markets fearful of a new wave of militant Islamist strikes. An Arabic newspaper said a unit of the al-Qaeda network had claimed responsibility for Saturday's two attacks and pledged more strikes against Western states. Israeli security officials helped Turkey, which says the attack was planned abroad. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler said investigations into Saturday's two suicide car bombings that killed 23 and injured 300 -- Muslims and Jews -- were advancing. "We have important clues. Don't...

TURKEY pledged overnight to continue fighting terrorism and slammed unnamed nations for shedding "crocodile tears" over the deadly bombings on two Istanbul synagogues at the weekend. "Those who committed this are not human, they are not Muslims... Turkey will continue to fight terrorism with determination to the very end," Justice Minister Cemil Cicek told reporters after a cabinet meeting. Cicek, who is also the government's spokesman, declined to answer questions about the probe into Saturday's bombings, which killed at least 24 people and has been reportedly claimed by the al-Qaeda network. Instead he delivered a tirade on what he said...

(IsraelNN.com) ZAKA officials report that Torah scrolls, prayer books, and other religious articles will be buried by the volunteers who arrived in Turkey to assist following the double car bombing attacks yesterday. The holy articles were destroyed as a result of the powerful terrorist bombs that were detonated against two Istanbul synagogues on the Sabbath morning.

Two Turkish men, including one who traveled several times to Iran for bomb training, have been identified as the drivers of the explosives-laden pickup trucks that exploded outside two synagogues here, a Turkish TV report said Monday. Istanbul police would not immediately comment on the report. "The identities of the bodies have not been determined yet," Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "These investigations cannot be done publicly. They have to be done in great secrecy, otherwise no result will be achieved," he said. Aksu said an announcement on the identities may be made...