Hatay Governor Mehmet Celalettin Lekesiz has announced to the media that six people who were allegedly planning to stage attacks against Syrian refugees in Hatay have been taken into custody.

The suspects were reportedly planning to stage bomb attacks in tent cities that host Syrian refugees in the province and to kidnap some of the refugees.

According to the governor, the Hatay police conducted an operation on Wednesday and detained six people. The suspects were taken to a police department for interrogation. The detentions come just weeks after Turkey was shocked by twin car bombings in Hatay's Reyhanlı district on May 11. Those attacks killed 51 people and wounded more than 100. Reyhanlı is a main hub for Syrian refugees who fled the regime-sponsored violence in their country.

In the meantime, Mehmet G., one of the main perpetrators of a deadly attack in Hatay's Reyhanlı district, told police that he and some of the other attackers were “used” by the real masterminds behind the attack.

Mehmet G., who was captured shortly after the attack, is said to be the owner of the two vehicles that were blown up in the attack and allegedly carried out the deadly bombings as well. He is reportedly Turkish and comes from Hatay.

During his interrogation by the police, Mehmet G. said that Nasır Eskiocak, one of the masterminds of the Reyhanlı bombings and who is currently on the run, had assured him and his friends that they would receive assistance fleeing to Syria after the attack, but Eskiocak did not keep his promise.

“I met Eskiocak seven years ago. He helped me financially from the time of our first meeting and I therefore trusted him. I complied with his orders [for the attack] without question,” Mehmet G. told the police.


The assailant also said he purchased both the vehicles used in the attack for TL 18,500 but did not pay the whole sum. “Eskiocak told us to travel to Adana, Ankara and Konya with the vehicles. We did not question why he wanted us to do so. We just traveled to those three cities. Then we brought the vehicles back to Hatay. Temir Dükancı [another suspect on the run] planted explosives in the vehicles. Then we took the vehicles to the locations of the bombings and carried out the attack,” Mehmet G. stated.

The assailants were hoping to escape to Syria after the attack but that did not happen, according to Mehmet G. “Eskiocak told us to go to a [specific] location after the attack. We did so and tried calling Eskiocak to come pick us up. He did not respond and it was at that moment that we understood we had been deceived. We tried calling him several times but he did not respond. We realized that we would not be able to flee to Syria. We tried hiding in a mountainous area but hunters saw us and called the police. Then we were caught by the police.”

Mehmet G. also said that Eskiocak had strong links with the Syrian intelligence agency al-Mukhabarat, which Turkish government and intelligence officials believe planned and supported the attack in Reyhanlı. “Eskiocak is much loved by al-Mukhabarat. He is currently in Syria and left Turkey just before the attack. We weren't able to do so because they used us [for the attack],” he added.


Turkish security officials are still working to capture Eskiocak, Dükancı and Yusuf Nazik, who are believed to be the real masterminds of the Reyhanlı bombings. There have been reports that officials are in contact with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to seek the group's assistance in capturing Eskiocak and the two other suspects.