Today, Sunday, Turkish state media quoted the police as saying that they had not found evidence of any concrete threat after the arrest of 15 suspected members of the Islamic State, on charges of targeting consulates and places of worship of religions other than Islam in Istanbul.
Several European countries closed their consulates in Istanbul last week, attributing this to "security reasons", and warned their citizens of the increased risk of attacks on diplomatic missions and non-Islamic places of worship in Turkey, after protests in Europe during the past weeks witnessed the burning of copies of the Holy Quran by far-right extremists. .
The Anadolu Agency quoted a statement by the Istanbul police as saying that the suspects "had received instructions regarding actions targeting the consulates of Sweden and the Netherlands, as well as Christian and Jewish houses of worship."
The statement said the suspects' links to the Islamic State group had indeed been confirmed, but that the authorities had not concluded that there were concrete threats to foreigners.
Ankara summoned 9 ambassadors to criticize the coordinated closure of European consulates.
Turkish officials later said that Western countries had not provided them with information to support what they said was a security threat.
Turkey suspended negotiations on the accession of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after a protest in Stockholm witnessed the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran.
Yesterday, Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reiterated his country's dissatisfaction with what it says is Sweden's inaction with entities that Ankara accuses of terrorism.
Turkey, Sweden and Finland signed an agreement last June aimed at overcoming Ankara's objections to the two countries' bid to join NATO, while the two countries pledged to take a tougher line with members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on their soil.