Pre-massacre tourism: New Zealand's killer tour of the Ottoman lands and its borders

A few months before the massacre of the two mosques in New Zealand, its executor, Brenton Tarant, was on a historic tour of Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, traveling in a vast geography that is a scene of historical events and battles.

According to reports, Tarant, an Australian citizen, began his tours of that region of the world in 2016 and included - in addition to the three countries - Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro.

In Turkey, the state television network TRT quoted a senior official as saying that Tarant had visited Turkey at least twice and the authorities were investigating his movements and contacts inside the country.

The network posted a photograph of the killer at a Turkish airport, quoting the official as saying that he had spent 43 days in Turkey, where he stayed on 17-20 March 2016, and another between 13 September and 25 October Same year.

The Turkish official said authorities suspect Tarant may have traveled to other countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Nostalgia for Constantinople
"If you try to live in European territory anywhere in the West of the Bosphorus, we will kill you and drive you cockroaches out of our territory," the killer wrote in his online statement, "to the Turks," saying that they could live peacefully on their land east of the Bosphorus. For Constantinople (Istanbul) and we will destroy every mosque and minaret in the city. "

Earlier, Bulgarian authorities announced the opening of an investigation into Tarrant's tour of the country. Bulgarian prosecutor Sotir Tsatsarov said that Tarant visited Bulgaria on November 9-15, 2018. He wanted to "visit historical sites and study the history of this Balkan country."

The Bulgarian prosecutor said the investigation would try to determine whether Tarant's words were correct or had other objectives. Investigators say Tarant arrived in Sofia from Dubai on November 9 and rented a car the next day to visit historic sites in 10 different places.

The killer left on November 15 in a plane to the Romanian capital of Bucharest, where he rented a car to Hungary.

Tarant also made a brief visit to several countries in the Balkans on 28-30 December 2016, traveling by bus in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Bulgarian authorities said they were in contact with authorities in the United States, New Zealand, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Serbia and Montenegro to investigate the information.