ISTANBUL
Turkey and the UK will continue to fight together against terror worldwide, said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu at the 10th year commemoration ceremony of the Istanbul bombings which targeted the British Consulate General, HSBC bank building and synagogue around the city.
An Al-Qaeda terrorist group attacked the British Consulate General and HSBC Bank offices in Istanbul with car bombs, killing 30 people and wounding almost 400 others, on November 20, 2003. Al-Qaeda had claimed responsibility for the attack.
"No matter how treacherous and brutal the attacks are, they will not be able to hinder the solidarity we have against terror," Davutoglu said. "Turkey and the UK are allies and we share their your sorrow."
Noting that Turkey was against associating terror with any religion, ethnicity or sect, he stressed that terror was a crime against humanity and whoever commits such crimes, attacks humanity as a whole.
He called for a fight against terror by saying, "We have to share the same front no matter what ethnicity, ideology and religion we have."
Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary William Hague extended his condolences to the families of the 2003 bombings' victims and said, "We will never forget those attacks."
"You have lost brave citizens of yours in Mogadishu in terrorist attacks recently. You have the burden of the Syria crisis. The UK will always stand by Turkey...The ties between us have become much stronger," he said.
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