TURKEY ATROCITY: City firm's lawyers shaken by attack

The only UK law firm with a presence in Turkey, Denton Wilde Sapte Gner in Istanbul, is rethinking its security situation in the wake of last week's suicide bombs in the city.

Al Qaeda sympathisers drove two car bombs into Istanbul's British consulate and the office of London-based HSBC bank, killing 27 - including the consul-general, Roger Short - and injuring more than 400.

Paul Sheridan, Dentons' managing partner in Istanbul, told the Gazette: 'This has hit us and we are having to rethink what our security is.

But quite what can you do? It's hard to know if lying low is the best decision.

People might hope that - as this is the second explosion in a week in Istanbul - perhaps that it will now end.

But there is no guarantee.'

He added: 'The events [of last week] have shaken everybody here - expatriate and Turk alike.

Many more of those injured were Turks than British.'

After the bombs, the Foreign Office advised against all but the most essential travel to Istanbul until the situation becomes clearer because it said a high threat from terrorism remained.

Dentons has systems in place to repatriate staff if necessary

Mr Sheridan said this week sees a four-day holiday in Turkey to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Islamic period of religious observance, which he said would give firms based in the city respite to consider their security.

Meanwhile a group aimed at attracting those connected to the law - called he Turkish Legal Society (UK) - launched last week.

Chairwoman Emma Edhem - a barrister with London-based Lombard Chambers - said there are 'a few hundred' Turkish lawyers in the UK.

Jeremy Fleming