A French school in Istanbul has announced that it is suspending its activities for two days, thus joining several consulates and institutions, such as the Instituto Cervantes in Spain, which have temporarily closed due to the risk of attacks after the burning of copies of the Koran in several European cities. .
The Turkish Ministry of the Interior has reacted to this series of closures by assuring that it has not detected that an attack is being prepared and that it is a "psychological war against Turkey" in a year in which Turkey aspires to receive 60 million tourists.
The Pierre Loti French high school center, which reported on Thursday its two-day closure, is in the Istanbul neighborhood of Beyoglu, where several churches and consular offices of Western countries are also located. "We apologize for this inconvenience beyond our control, we will continue to keep you informed," the French center has communicated to the parents of the students.
The Beyoglu area has been the target of terrorist attacks in the past.
Several Western countries, including Spain, already warned their citizens residing in Turkey on Wednesday of the high risk of an attack in Istanbul, in relation to the burning of copies of the Koran in some European countries by far-right groups.
"In line with prudence and security with the main EU countries in the face of suspicions of terrorist threats, the Consulate General of Spain in Istanbul and the Cervantes Institute have been closed to the public for this week," the Spanish Embassy in Ankara reported.
The United States was the first country to issue an alert saying that "following recent Koran burnings in Europe, the US government is alerting its citizens to possible retaliatory attacks by terrorists against places of worship in Turkey."
In recent days, far-right groups in countries including Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands have publicly burned or vandalized copies of the Koran, the Muslim holy book.
The Armenian community has also warned its members of the arrival in Turkey of terrorists from the jihadist group Islamic State, and has recommended canceling the acts of religious congregations for three months, as well as "taking precautions."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
