Unaware of Istiklal bombing, a Turkish woman received perpetrator as guest

It was Sunday, November 13 and Ayse (name changed) was busy taking care of her newborn baby at her apartment in the Kanarya neighbourhood of Istanbul’s Kucukcekmece district when someone knocked on the door.

It was her next-door neighbour. With her was another woman Ayse hadn’t seen before.

Ayse also had no idea that she was about to usher into her modest home a terrorist, who just some hours ago had set off a bomb in the city’s bustling Istiklal Street, killing six people, including two minors. At least 81 other people were injured in the blast, a bloody event that triggered condemnation from around the world over.

The police scanned hours of footage from security cams following the bombing and the trail led them to Ayse's apartment. The woman she had received as her neighbour's companion turned out to be Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national who had entered Türkiye through the southern district bordering northern Syria, where the heavy presence of PKK/YPG terror group has been posing a security threat to Ankara. 

Ayse had no idea about what had occurred on Istiklal Street. She had not switched on the TV for news or browsed social media that day. So when her neighbour, later identified as a terror accomplice, came knocking, she received them warmly.

“I do not know her. I haven’t seen her before…Our neighbour came to our house with her. The woman (Albashir) came as a guest,” Ayse tells TRT World. Showing customary Turkish hospitality, she even made tea for the two guests. “Both had a cup of tea (each),” she adds.

She recalls that the terrorist didn’t speak much but was busy on her phone all the time. Every question she asked the Syrian was answered by her neighbour.

The Syrian woman later confessed to police that she was trained by PKK/YPG terrorists in Syria and entered Türkiye through Syria’s Afrin region.

Since the police raid, Ayse has been distraught over the fact that she hosted a terrorist in house.

“She was in black pants and a purple t-shirt when she got to our house. She had another pair of pants in her hand. She threw them in the kitchen. I took them so I could burn them [later] for heat,” Ayse recalls.

“Then, the police entered the house. If she carried out this attack, why didn’t she throw the pants away, why did she bring them to my house?...Why?”

Though the neighbour and the guest didn’t raise any suspicion, Ayse says she asked them about a bag they had with them.

“She (the suspect) brought a bag with her. I asked what was in the bag? My neighbour told me they have some money and gold in the bag. The woman didn't talk much. When she did speak to me, it was in Arabic.” The tenant even brought out a blanket for the bomber when she complained of the cold.

The neighbour also told Ayse that Ahlam was to be driven to Europe by her son, who is a driver.

“She had her phone in her hand all the time, sending messages. But I don’t know with whom she was corresponding,” Ayse adds.