Can Erözden
March 22, 2016•Update: March 28, 2016
ANKARA
Reacting to the multiple blasts in Brussels Tuesday, Turkey’s EU Minister Volkan Bozkir expressed his shock, also stressing that Europe must oppose all terrorist organizations without discrimination.
"Shocked by the explosions at Brussels airport. All forms of terrorism and its supporters must be fought against without any discrimination," he tweeted in English.
Speaking minutes later to Turkish news channel A Haber, Bozkir commented that the blasts in Brussels might have been committed by Daesh, seeking revenge.
He stated that it is militants from Europe "who made Daesh the [threat] that it is", as the terrorist organization finds its resources in European countries.
Bozkir said most Daesh fighters are European citizens and that a lack of cooperation with Turkey has resulted in this pipeline of Europeans joining Daesh not being eliminated.
Bozkir noted that all terrorist organizations are being fed by the same resources and use the same financial means, so all countries should act together against terrorism.
Turkey has long warned Europe about economic crisis, the refugee crisis, and terrorism, he said, but while Europe fought groups which could harm the continent, it shut its eyes to other terrorist organizations.
Bozkir added that there is no difference between terrorist organizations such as the PKK, DHKP-C, and Daesh, but European countries often fail to fight terrorism enough although these groups are on the EU's terrorists list.
Bozkir also offered his condolences to the families of the victims in Brussels.
His remarks came days after terrorist PKK sympathizers erected a tent, unchallenged, near a Turkey-EU summit in Brussels.
Twin blasts Tuesday hit Zaventem airport, located just seven miles (11.3 kilometers) northeast of Brussels, followed by an explosion at the city’s Maelbeek metro station.
The two blasts at the airport at around 8 a.m. local time killed at least 11 people and injured dozens others, according to Belgian public broadcaster VRT.
Shortly after, a separate explosion hit the Maelbeek metro station in central Brussels, which is located close to several European Union buildings in the city, killing 15 more people, according to the metro operator, Brussels Intercommunal Transport Company (STIB-MIVB). State outlets such as VRT have yet to confirm the death toll in the metro blast.
The attacks occurred during morning rush hour in the city, when thousands of people use public transportation.
According to local media, initial reports suggest the Brussels airport attack was carried out by a suicide bomber.
The terror alert in Brussels has been raised to the highest level, local media added.
All metro stations have been closed, and flights to the Zaventem Airport have been diverted. The high-speed railway service Eurostar has also cancelled all trains to and from Brussels.
STIB-MIVB said on Twitter that the city's bus, tram, and metro have been shut down.
Last Friday, Salah Abdeslam -- the top fugitive suspect in last November’s Paris attacks -- was captured alive in a Brussels police raid in Molenbeek near Brussels.
Abdeslam, suspected of having participated in the Nov. 13 killings, was the subject of a European-wide manhunt.
Daesh was blamed for the Paris attacks, which were called the deadliest terrorist act in Europe in a decade.
