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Kurdish group says it caused huge Istanbul
airport fire
25.5.2006
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ISTANBUL, May 25,
2006 (AFP) , -- A radical Kurdish group said
Wednesday it was responsible for a fire at the cargo
section of Istanbul's Ataturk airport, the hub of
international air travel in Turkey, which slightly
injured three people and caused delays in air
traffic.
The claim, which could not be confirmed, was made by
a group calling itself the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons
(TAK) in a message to Firat, a pro-Kurdish news
agency based in Europe.
The Turkish authorities have identified an
electrical short circuit as the probable cause of
the blaze.
"The sabotage is a response to the policies of
massacre followed by the Turkish state towards the
Kurds," the message said.
It added that its actions would continue "as long as
the extermination policies of the Turkish state
against the Kurds are in force."
The Turkish government says the TAK is an offshoot
of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)
regarded as a terrorist organisation by the United
States and the European Union.
The PKK denies any links with the TAK, which has
targeted the tourist industry and in one attack in
July last year planted a bomb that killed a British
woman and an Irishwoman. |
Ataturk Airport - Istanbul Turkey
Photo:AP-AFP |
The blaze started at around 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT) in
Terminal C where outgoing and incoming freight is
stored, and the flames were brought under control
about an hour later.
"The fire is now completely under control.
Cooling-off work in is progress," Irfan Balta, the
airport's chief of operations, told the NTV news
channel.
Istanbul deputy governor Fikret Kasapoglu said it
was not immediately clear what had caused the blaze,
but said officials suspected it was triggered by
either a short-circuit or goods catching fire from
sparks of a welding machine.
Three people were hospitalised with smoke
inhalation, and there was extensive damage in the
cargo building, he added.
"Large parts of the building caved in. We are trying
to prevent the fire from spreading to other cargo
holds. But there is no danger at the moment," he
told the Anatolia news agency.
He also added that flights were continuing normally.
An official from the state airport authority told
AFP earlier that there were delays as some incoming
planes were ordered to delay their landings and
others were rerouted to the city's second airport on
the Asian side of the Bosphorus Strait.
The site of the fire was located at a distance from
the international and domestic flights terminal and
airline company representatives said passengers were
out of danger.
Dozens of firefighters, aided by two fire-fighting
planes, were involved in battling the flames which
sent flames and huge plumes of black smoke over the
airport.
Explosions could be heard as the blaze enveloped the
goods kept in the cargo section, Anatolia said.
Ataturk Airport is the country's biggest airport and
millions of foreign tourists pass through it each
year to fly to Turkish resorts or destinations in
the far east.
PKK group launched its armed campaign for an
independent Kurdish homeland in southeastern Turkey
in 1984.
AFP
Southeastern Turkey: North Kurdistan (
Kurdistan-Turkey)
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