Latest from Hungary and Turkey on Budapest assassination

Trache murder

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS| intelNews.org |
Despite the overwhelming silence in Western media about last week’s suspicious murder in broad daylight of a Syrian man in Hungary, the story continues to make headlines in Israel, the Arab world, Turkey and Hungary. IntelNews reported on Friday that a Bassam Trache, a Syrian man who had lived in Hungary for 20 years, was shot dead in Budapest on Wednesday morning, as he was driving his car. Witnesses reported that the assailant stole a small black briefcase from the 52-year-old victim’s vehicle, before fleeing the scene of the crime on foot. It also emerged that, in the week prior to the mysterious shooting, Hungarian air controllers located two Israeli Gulfstream spy planes hovering over the Hungarian capital, close to the airport, where Wednesday’s shooting occurred. The revelation prompted some intelligence observers to speculate about a possible connection between Trache’s murder and the killing of Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai, last January. In Hungary, Trache’s assassination has become a major issue for debate, especially in light of the country’s upcoming national elections –so much so that Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai has been forced by public and media pressure to order an investigation into the activities of the Israeli airplanes. In Turkey, meanwhile, the country’s Air Forces Command confirmed that the two Israeli jets had requested and received permission to transit through Turkish airspace. However, in accordance with Turkish aeronautical regulations, the airplanes were allowed to fly through Turkey “on condition of using air corridors in Turkish airspace; of not refueling midair and of not being equipped with electronic apparatuses intended for photography, exploration and intelligence” (emphasis added). This means that, if the Israeli Gulfstream aircraft were indeed engaging in airborne surveillance, as many in Hungary suspect, they will have broken Turkish, in addition to Hungarian law.