Roundup: Turkish government under fire over failed hostage rescue operation

The fatally botched hostage rescue crisis in an Istanbul courthouse prompted a security debate in the country.

Opposition and judiciary members are accusing the government of not taking necessary measures to prevent it.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, main opposition Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) leader, accused the government and the intelligence agency of acting as bystanders while arms were snuck into the courthouse and a public prosecutor was taken hostage.

"If this country's National Intelligence Agency (MIT) deals with issues that don't concern it, then offices of the republic's prosecutors will be busted open with fanfare," he remarked.

Two gunmen from the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C) held prosecutor Mehmet Selim Kiraz hostage inside a courthouse in Istanbul and died on Tuesday night after a shootout with special police forces.

Kiraz had been investigating the killing of Berkin Elvan, a teenager who was hit by a police tear gas canister during the anti-government protests in Gezi Park events in the summer of 2013.

Turkey's intelligence agency, the MIT, has recently come under fire by opposition parties for allegedly doing the bidding for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Hakan Fidan, head of MIT, resigned in February to run for Parliament on AKP's ticket but later withdrew his candidacy following opposition from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He returned to his post after dropping the bid.

Fidan is a highly controversial figure in Turkey and his reinstatement stirred a backlash from the opposition.

CHP leader Kilicdaroglu accused the government of using MIT as its backyard.

Oktay Vural, parliamentary group deputy chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), the second largest opposition party, said that "as before, Fidan will employ the agency against opposition parties and the public."

Levent Gok, CHP parliamentary group deputy chairman, criticized the government for calling the hostage rescue operation a success, saying "we have a government which cannot even protect its own prosecutor."

POLICE DEMORALIZED

Analysts said the failure of the hostage crisis in a high-security building reveals vulnerabilities in the police department which recently underwent a reshuffle in the aftermath of corruption scandals which shook the government in December 2013.

Several veteran police chiefs were reassigned, demoted or purged from the force as they were investigating the massive corruption network involving senior government officials.

Opposition parties termed them "revenge operations," where police chiefs got punished by the government for uncovering dirty laundry implicating senior politicians.

Ercan Tastekin, head of the Ankara-based Research Center for Security Strategies (GUSAM), said this terrorist organization's activities should have been closely monitored and intelligence must be able to avert such attacks before they happen.

Tastekin highlighted that the purge of veteran chiefs in intelligence and anti-terror units following their exposure of corruption, and then their replacement with less capable chiefs, caused Turkey's intelligence failure.

"This is the latest example of serious gaps in the battle against a terrorist group which claimed responsibility for shooting at police in Istanbul's Taksim Square two months ago," he added.

He was referring to an incident where an assailant fired a machine gun at riot police in Taksim Square in downtown Istanbul late January.

There were no casualties in the attack and the assailant, reportedly a woman, managed to escape the scene on foot, still remaining at large.

The DHKP-C claimed responsibility for both the attack in Taksim and the hostage incident.

SURGE IN ATTACKS BY HARD-LEFT TERRORISTS

The DHKP-C, a leftist group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, was behind a suicide bombing at the U.S. embassy in 2013. It also claimed responsibility for killing two policemen and an Australian tourist in 2001 in Istanbul.

The police in the southern province of Antalya launched an operation against the group Wednesday, detaining 22 people suspected to be DHKP-C members.

Following the hostage crisis, a violent protest erupted in Istanbul's Okmeydani where police had to disperse the crowd with water cannons and pepper spray.

HEIGHTENED SECURITY

The government increased security measures in and around the Istanbul courthouse Wednesday, prompting long queues at the building entrance where the hostage crisis unfolded.

Lawyers are also being subjected to searches after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the hostage takers were dressed up as lawyers in order to sneak in arms into the courthouse.

Judiciary members in reaction to the murder of the Turkish prosecutor said the government failed to ensure the security of judges and prosecutors.

Metin Feyzioglu, chairman of the Turkish Bar Association (TBB), criticized the government for attempting to take advantage of the crisis, accusing it of "political opportunism."

"Lawyers cannot be scapegoats for security lapses in courthouses," he stated.

Turkish judge Mehmet Karababa, recalling that in 2012 two prosecutors were killed by terrorist groups in the provinces of Tunceli and Agri, said the prosecutor's murder on Tuesday resulted from a security vacuum, negligence and disregard of terror threats. Endit