New details emerge in Santa Maria Church attack: Shooting practice held in Beylikdüzü

The indictment prepared against 43 defendants, including the attackers, regarding the attack at the Santa Maria Church in Istanbul's Sarıyer district, where one person lost their life, has been accepted, with prosecutors seeking prison sentences ranging from 7 years and 6 months to 349 years and 6 months.

While the defendants are expected to appear before the court in the coming months, the indictment includes new details regarding the detained defendant Adam Khamirzaev.

According to reporting by İsmail Saymaz from halktv.com.tr, Khamirzaev, born in Chechnya in 1985, arrived in Turkey in 2015. He was arrested for ISIS links two years later, deported, and sent to Dubai. He returned to Turkey in 2022 and began working at a butcher shop in Başakşehir. He claims to have met David Tanduev and Amırjon Kholiqov, who attacked the church, at the butcher shop.

Khamirzaev was detained at his home in the Kayabaşı neighborhood of Başakşehir following the church attack.

A fake passport issued in the name of 'Andrei Guzun' was found in his possession. It is alleged that Khamirzaev is an ISIS member with the codename 'Adam Abu-Darrar Al-Shishani' and that he “authorized elements under his command to carry out actions in Turkey.”

The indictment includes critical information “conveyed by the MIT (National Intelligence Organization) and the Intelligence Branch Directorate.”

"HE CONDUCTED SHOOTING PRACTICE IN BEYLİKDÜZÜ..."

That information is as follows:

“It has been reported that Khamirzaev’s Russian-speaking organizational connections could be involved in additional action plans in our country or potentially in the US; that Khamirzaev planned to organize weapons training and procure necessary materials to carry out an action in late 2023 or early 2024; that multiple individuals in the group, including those named Abdulaziz Abdullaev, Hamza Abu Hanzala, Dawud, and Abu Bakr, procured handguns and conducted shooting practice in Beylikdüzü; and that Abu Suleyman (Codename) Nazhmuddin Bisultanov was also among the group in our country.”

THEY WERE GOING TO TRAIN AND SEND THEM TO THE US

Another piece of information from the MIT and the Intelligence Branch alleges that last year, an ISIS group conducted armed training exercises in the Belgrade Forest or at a farm in Silivri to send operatives to the US.

The intelligence is as follows:

“It has been reported that an individual named Makhammadyusuf Alısher Ugli Mirzoev, who is part of the DAESH group that assists foreign nationals in Turkey with travel to the US, worked to establish training in the Belgrade Forest or at a farm in Silivri on the outskirts of Istanbul in July 2023 to train DAESH members in weapons and subsequently send them to the US, and that he was seeking to procure weapons; and that Mirzoev reported to Adam Khamirzaev, one of the leaders of DAESH...”

Meanwhile, books titled 'Questions Regarding the Preface to the Jurisprudence of Jihad' and 'Instructions for Commanders' were found in Khamirzaev’s home.