New information on the Reina attack continued to surface on the fifth day since suspect Abdulgadir Masharipov's capture.
Even though authorities claimed that an official interrogation has yet to start, details of the attack and the role of the Uzbek-national Daesh terrorist, who massacred 39 people at a renowned Istanbul nightclub on New Year's Eve, become clearer by the day.
On Friday, it was reported that the terrorist's escape route has been exposed. If the terrorist, who was captured in an apartment in Istanbul's Esenyurt district, had managed to the escape the police, he would hide in Istanbul's Silivri for a couple of days and then travel to Çanakkale.
According to information provided by Iraqi national Ali Jameel Mohammed, who rented the Esenyurt flat to Masharipov and is also a suspected Daesh member, Masharipov was to travel to İzmir from Çanakkale. He would stay in the Aegean-coast province for a day before heading for the southeastern province of Hayat and then to Daesh-controlled Raqqa.
Reportedly, the rifle that Masharipov used in the attack was brought to Istanbul from Konya where the terrorist lived for a while before coming to Istanbul and that the terrorist took the firearm in a bag from the Zeytinburnu district and headed to the nightclub in Ortaköy.
Meanwhile, Turkish media outlets claimed that Masharipov keeps asking about his 4.5-year-old son during his talks with the police. It was also reported that the terrorist said a man had approached him while in Silivri and told him they would take the child as the police were after him. However, he promised Masharipov to bring his son back once he was out of Istanbul. The police continue to search for the 4.5-year old and the three other Daesh militants who are allegedly holding the child.
Turkish official slams French song making fun of Reina attack
İlhan Yerlikaya, the head of the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), has criticized French singer Frédéric Fromet, who satirized the fatal New Year-attack on Istanbul nightclub, Reina.
Just 75 minutes into 2017, Uzbek national Daesh militant Masharipov attacked the elite Reina nightclub killing 39 people. The Islamic State group later took responsibility.
In a letter to his French counterpart, Yerlikaya condemned the song sung by Fromet, who is known for his satirical songs broadcast on the French public France Inter radio, as "disturbing."
On Jan. 6, on France Inter radio, Fromet sang a song to the tune of the Macarena that included these lyrics: "An attack in Nice is real agony, an attack in Berlin, ah yeah, it's concerning, an attack in Istanbul is cooler, Reina!"
Writing to Olivier Schrameck, head of the Superior Council of Audiovisual, which regulates French broadcasters, Yerlikaya said the French public would be just as outraged if a similar song was written about the Nov. 13, 2015 attacks in Paris in which 130 people died.
France Inter boss Laurence Bloch, however, on the company website tried to explain Fromet's song as "black humor," used as a safety valve and not intended to hurt.
Meanwhile, in a Jan. 15 statement on Facebook, written in Turkish and French, Fromet said he was "saddened" by those who misunderstood what he called a message of friendship.
"In my song, I was condemning the [feeling] of 'not being affected' by the Turkish attack 'because it is far from France'," he said.
Fromet added that wherever terror comes from, he always felt "complete solidarity" with the victims and their relatives.
Speaking to Daily Sabah previously, Bloch reiterated her message of solidarity over the terrorist attack that hit Reina nightclub on Jan. 1.
She also stated that France Inter has no particular policy regarding Turkey or the Turkish nation and that the misunderstanding was due to a cultural difference between France and Turkey.
