Nightclub hit in ISIL Turkish attack is razed
Authorities claim Istanbul’s glamour spot breached law
ISTANBUL // Istanbul authorities yesterday demolished the Reina nightclub that was hit by a deadly extremist gun attack on New Year revellers, saying the venue had breached Turkish legislation. Once the favoured glamour haunt of the city’s elite, the waterside Bosphorus nightclub was the scene of horror in the early hours of January 1 when an Uzbek gunman went on the rampage, killing 39 people, most of them foreigners. The bloodshed was claimed by ISIL.
Bulldozers yesterday demolished most of the nightclub after the city municipality ordered its partial demolition because “parts of the entertainment centre violated legislation”. It did not give details of the infringements.
Debris piled high across the area where the exclusive club stood along the Bosphorus shore, below a suspension bridge linking Europe and Asia.
Just a few upended couches gave any indication as to what the place once was. Only the entry facade had been left intact, but nobody knows why. Reina employees said they were unaware of the demolition decision and arrived in the morning to see the destruction. The suspected gunman Ab- dulgadir Masharipov, 34, who spent 17 days on the run following the attack, has been held in prison since his detention in January.
He is due to go on trial along with 56 suspects in Istanbul on December 11, according to Turkish state media.
Prosecutors have asked that Masharipov be given 40 life sentences – one for each victim and for seeking to disrupt the constitutional order.
Three jailed accomplices who allegedly helped with planning – Ilyas Mamasharipov, Abdurrauf Sert and Ali Jameel Mohammed – risk similar penalties as does his wife Zarina Nurullayeva.
Last month, the United States revealed that a secret military ground operation killed an ISIL operative, a close associate of leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi, who was linked to the Istanbul nightclub attack.
ISIL said the nightclub attack was revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria. Turkish authorities said Masharipov trained in Afghanistan and that he confessed to carrying out the attack during the testimony.
The Reina attack, 75 minutes into the new year, shook Turkey – a country already hit by a series of attacks that killed hundreds of people last year.
Extremists and Kurdish militants were blamed for the attacks.