ICC Note: The man responsible with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve in Turkey has testified before a Turkish court saying his attack targeted Christians. Abdulkadir Masharipov had trained in Afghanistan and had close affiliation with the Islamic State when he carried out his single man attack at the Turkish nightclub. He testified his intentions to commit suicide at the attack and that he does not regret his actions.

02/15/2017 Turkey (WWM): The man charged with killing 39 people on New Year’s Eve at Istanbul’s exclusive Reina nightclub attack, Abdulkadir Masharipov, has testified before a Turkish court, saying: “My purpose was to kill Christians”.

The Uzbek national was arraigned in court 11 Feb., nearly a month after he was captured by Istanbul police 16 Jan. He told the judge interrogating him at the hearing that he was a member of the so-called Islamic State, which had claimed responsibility for the attack the following day. IS had defined the massacre as revenge for Turkish military involvement in Syria.

But Masaripov insisted that he did not consider his actions as an attack against the Turkish state, according to Hurriyet newspaper reporter Damla Guler, citing a confidential court document on 13 Feb.

Rather, the jihadist said, “I believed it was an act of revenge against the murderous actions carried out by the world’s Christians, an act of retaliation on their holiday,” Masharipov told the court. Observance of New Year’s Day is discouraged by many orthodox Muslims.

Married with two small children, Masaripov had reportedly been trained in Afghanistan and was living with his wife and family in Turkey for a year, with plans to travel on to Syria. He told interrogators that he was in frequent telephone contact with “Abu Jihad,” an IS operative in Syria, in the days and hours before he launched his single-handed attack against the Reina club.

The IS militant said he had expected to commit suicide in the attack, rather than submit to capture. Insisting he did not regret what he had done, he told the court he hoped he would be given the death penalty.

The militant’s dead victims included 12 Muslim Turkish citizens, but the rest were visiting foreigners, more than half of them Muslim Arab nationals, including seven Saudis.

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