Turkish Press Review

ISTANBUL

Anadolu Agency does not verify these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

All Turkish dailies Thursday continued to cover the terrorist attack that hit Istanbul’s historical Sultanahmet district, killing 10 people and injuring 15 others, many of them German tourists.

"The lies of the bomber" was HURRIYET's headline. The paper reported that the suicide bomber, which it identified as Nabil Fadli, applied to Turkey’s Migration Management Directorate in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul on Jan. 5 as an asylum seeker.

According to the daily, the Syrian citizen had pretended to be escaping from Daesh, claiming that most of his family had been killed by the terror group.

After the attack, police raided Fadli's house in the Zeytinburnu district and detained two Syrian nationals residing there, the paper said.

YENI SAFAK ran with the headline: "The bomber's family speaks". The daily reached the bomber's family in Syria, reported that they were shocked by Fadli's attack in Turkey.

"One of Daesh’s members visited us on Dec. 26 and said that Fadli had died during a clash between Daesh and the [Kurdish] PYD. We even held a memorial service for him," the family told the paper.

On Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told journalists that police had identified the suicide bomber, but did not supply a name. He said that the bomber had Daesh links.

"Police were not in pursuit of the bomber. He had come to Turkey as an ordinary refugee. However, after the attack, all his contacts were brought out," Davutoglu said.

"Suicide bomber hunting," was the headline in VATAN which covered the extensive investigation across Turkey after the Sultanahmet attack.

According to the daily, Turkish security forces detained at least 46 people in six provinces including Antalya, Sanliurfa, Kilis, Mersin and Adana.

In economic news, financial newspaper DUNYA covered German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere's trip to Turkey after the attack.

"There is no reason for any German citizen to cancel their trip to Turkey. The attack is not specifically aimed at German people or Germany", Maiziere said, according to the paper.