Erdogan: Turkey had warned Belgium about Brussels attacker

Ankara, (IINA) - Turkey announced on Wednesday that it deported one of the attackers involved in Tuesday’s Brussels explosions back in June 2015, and had warned the Belgian government that he is a foreign militant, Anadolu Agency reported.
Addressing a joint press conference with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis in the Turkish capital Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Belgium was warned that the attacker captured in Turkey's southeastern Gaziantep province in 2015 was a foreign militant.
"However, despite our warnings that this person is a foreign terrorist fighter, Belgium failed to detect the terrorist links of this person", the Turkish president said.
Later, Turkish Foreign Ministry sources named the deported attacker as Ibrahim El-Bakroui. At least 34 people were killed, and more than 100 others were injured in multiple explosions at Zaventem airport and a metro station in Brussels Tuesday morning. Erdogan said terrorism could only be overcome through political alliances across the world. "The world needs to redefine terror, terrorist and terrorism", he said.
On his part, President Iohannis agreed that the response against terror threat must be both universal and certain. He said Turkey is an important partner in solving many of the EU’s problems. "Turkey hosts numerous refugees in its territories and it has a key role in controlling the flow of refugees, ending human trafficking and humanitarian assistances", he said.
"I welcome last week's agreement with the EU and hope that it will help to decrease of the flow of refugees dramatically", he added.
AG/IINA

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