New Zealand Mosque Shooter’s Travel History Expands, Erdogan Claims Morocco Visit

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the President of the Republic of Turkey, has just published an op-ed on the Washington Post website in which he states, among other things, that Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the author of the Christchurch attacks that left 50 dead and dozens injured, had, in addition to Turkey, visited Morocco, Israel and Croatia.

Thus, Erdogan writes: "Following the attack in New Zealand, Turkish authorities discovered that Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the alleged shooter, had traveled to Turkey twice in 2016 and spent time in various regions of the country. Furthermore, we have established that Tarrant had traveled to several other countries, including Morocco, Israel and Croatia. Turkish intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with New Zealand and other countries, continue their efforts to shed light on what happened and to prevent further attacks." We’re starting to pass the buck?

These statements come after Erdogan’s surprise to see Tarrant pronounce the name of the country he leads as well as his own name several times. Thus, the latter declared in the same op-ed: "There were numerous historical references on the murder weapons and in an online manifesto the alleged terrorist had published. The number of times he mentioned Turkey and myself was both curious and deserving of deeper consideration."

In this op-ed, the Turkish president also highlights the similarities between this terrorist and the Islamic State, and this terrorist act with others, in Turkey, France, Indonesia or elsewhere. For him, the Christchurch attacks are just the result of a "smear campaign" aimed at associating Islam with terrorism.