The administration of İstanbul's central Beyoğlu district cancelled New Year's celebrations on the central Taksim Square and touristic İstiklal Street due to a terrorist threat, Beyoglu police chief İsmail Kılıç said Wednesday.
"The security measures will be at the highest level on New Year's Eve ... In order to make citizens feel safe, no public celebrations will take place. Mass gatherings will be banned. Such measures will be taken near Istiklal Street, Taksim Square and other central districts of the city," Kılıç said.
In the early hours of January 1, 2017, at least 39 people, including more than 20 foreigners, were shot dead by a gunman at Istanbul's Reina nightclub. Almost 70 clubgoers were injured as a result of the attack. The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack.
In January, Turkish authorities detained Islamic State terrorist Abdulkadir Masharipov, an Uzbek national, on suspicion of perpetrating the Reina attack. The trial of 57 defendants of Reina nightclub massacre of the new year continued on December 12. Abdulhamid Abdulaziz, one of the defendants, mentioned the name of Turkey-backed jihadist organization Ahrar al-Sham during his confession, the court translator avoided using it during the translation
New Year celebrations have become an issue of heated moral debates since ruling AKP party come into power in 2002. Islamist, the AKP government had extensively targeted new year celebrations days before the attack.
Last year Turkey's Religious Affairs Directorate declared the New Year celebrations as "illicit" in Friday sermon given in all mosques across the country. The sermon by the Directorate, declared that "it is never suitable to a believer [Muslim], forgetting himself and his aim of creation [...], to exhibit illicit manners and behaviours that don’t comply with our values and don’t contribute to human life".
The Directorate operates under the Office of the Prime Minister.
