Authorities referred 13 of 28 suspected al Qaeda members to court after their recent arrest; the remaining suspects are still being interrogated. Among those arrested are al Qaeda’s alleged senior member in Turkey, Halis Bayancuk, along with the terror group’s second-in-command in the Middle East, İbrahim Şen. Some three senior al Qaeda operatives are said to have escaped to Syria before the operation. The Interior Ministry has removed 35 police officers responsible for the operation in İstanbul, replaced the police officers guarding the eight prosecutors of the investigation, and demoted counterterrorism chiefs in Kilis and Van. The detainees are suspected of sending fighters to Syria, facilitating the movement of al Qaeda members from Afghanistan and Pakistan, fundraising for al Qaeda, and providing aid and weapons to fighters in Syria, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
