Kurdish rebels were blamed for the 2005 attack in Kusadasi

In July last year Helyn Bennett, 21, from County Durham, was among five people killed after a bomb tore through a bus in the Aegean resort Kusadasi.

In 2003 a UK diplomat was killed when a suicide bomber targeted the British consulate in Istanbul.

A second bomb hit the HSBC bank in the city almost simultaneously.

The terror attacks appeared to be aimed at British interests in the country.

Consul General Roger Short and his personal assistant Lisa Hallworth were among the 14 killed in the consulate blast.

Violent campaign

Last year's attack in the southern town of Kusadasi also killed Irish teenager Tara Wheelan, and injured Miss Bennett's fiance Stephen Stables and her brother, cousin and uncle.

The attack was blamed on Kurdish rebel group the PKK, but the organisation denied any involvement.

Kurdish rebels and militants both from the far left and from Islamist circles have carried out bombings in Turkey in the past.

The PKK, which is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and EU, has been staging a violent campaign against the Turkish government for an independent Kurdish state since 1978.

The suicide bomb attacks on HSBC and the British consulate in 2003 were reportedly linked to al-Qaeda.