01-01-2017, 11:46 PM
*** 2-Jan-17 World View -- Istanbul Turkey New Year's terror attack compared to Paris and Orlando attacks
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Istanbul Turkey New Year's terror attack compared to Paris and Orlando attacks
****
![[Image: g170101b.jpg]](http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g170101b.jpg)
Reina nightclub in Istanbul on Sunday morning, several hours after the attack (EPA)
The people of Turkey were once again traumatized by a new terror
attack, this time on a well-known Reina night club in Istanbul, where
crowds of 700 people, both Turks and foreigners, were celebrating the
New Year. At around 1:15 am on January 1, a gunman opened fire on
people in the packed nightclub, killing at 39 people and injuring 65
others. The gunman fled and is still at large.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it's believed to
be the work of the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or
Daesh), because of the similarity to attacks in Paris and Orlando,
where attackers killed civilians indiscriminately in entertainment
venues.
In Paris on November 13, 2015, three suicide bombers detonated
themselves at a football (soccer) game. Then terrorists targeted
three cafes and restaurants with gunfire, and then attacked the
Bataclan theatre, where three gunmen opened fire on a large crowd.
In all, 130 people were killed. These attacks were planned
and carried out by an ISIS terror cell in Brussels.
In Orlando on June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed by a gunman at a
local gay nightclub. The assailant had sworn allegiance to ISIS, but
no concrete links were found.
Turkey has suffered dozens of terrorist attacks in the past 18 months,
killing hundreds of people. The perpetrators have been both ISIS and
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including the PKK offshoot Kurdistan
Freedom Falcons (TAK). There have been four previous terrorist
attacks in just the five weeks:
The Turkish people have been traumatized not only by the endless
stream of terrorist attacks, but also by the July 15 failed coup
attempt. Hurriyet (Ankara) and Daily Sabah (Ankara) and AP
Related Articles
****
**** Terror attacks expose deep divisions in Turkey's society
****
Ever since the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey's president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been fired or jailed well over 100,000
people. Erdogan has particularly targeted journalists that
write dissenting articles, but the targeted people also include
members of parliament and other politicians, judges, police,
and teachers.
Since many of the people targeted are from the political opposition or
are dissenters from Erdogan's policies, many people believe that
Erdogan is using the coup attempt to eliminate his political enemies
by force, including violence. This view is supported by the fact that
Erdogan had already begun targeting the political opposition when he
shut down the opposition newspaper Zaman several months before the
coup attempt. These attacks have enormously polarized the Turkish
people, with about half supporting Erdogan, and half despising him.
One analyst, Soner Cagaptay of the Turkish Research Program at the
Washington Institute says that Turkey's population is sharply divided
into two approximately equal groups:
Another analyst, Simon Waldman, notes that Erdogan's reaction to the
New Year's attack was different from his reaction to other attacks in
that, unlike other times, Erdogan did not refer to the people who were
killed as "martyrs." This word is almost always used by Erdogan with
the death of a Turkish citizen in a terrorist attack or from military
combat. But in this case, Erdogan said, "I offer my condolences to
our citizens’, to our foreign guests’ and to our security officer’s
families."
Waldman speculates that the reason is that the attack was on a
nightclub where alcohol was served, and the people were celebrating
not only the New Year but also Christmas, as these two holidays are
often conflated by Muslims. These are secular things that are
strongly condemned by hardcore conservative Muslim clerics, and indeed
it's suspected that the terrorist attack was inspired by opposition to
Christmas and New Year's parties. Indeed, the attacker was wearing a
Santa Claus hat.
In fact, Hurriyet columnist Murat Yetkin suggests that the "poisonous"
atmosphere in Turkey is because by "rising nationalist and
religious chauvinism":
> [indent]<QUOTE>"Another question surrounds the political atmosphere
> in Turkey, which is getting more poisonous every day with rising
> nationalist and religious chauvinism. Religious Affairs
> Directorate head Mehmet Görmez was quick to make a statement after
> the attack, saying there was “no difference” between terror
> attacks targeting places of worship and attacks targeting
> entertainment sites, and they should be equally condemned. That
> statement followed cheering after the attack among certain social
> media users who believe that celebrating the New Year is
> un-Islamic and something to be despised.
>
> Görmez’s statement was welcome. But just two days before, the
> Friday sermon prepared by Görmez’s Diyanet and read in more than
> 80,000 mosques across Turkey harshly criticized New Year
> celebrations as illegitimate and having no place in Islam or
> Turkey’s cultural traditions. Only a few days ago, members of an
> ultranationalist group made headlines by performing street theater
> in the Western province of Aydin by pointing a pistol at the
> forehead of another militant dressed in a Santa Claus
> costume. Unlike the cases frequently opened against critical media
> in Turkey, the police and the courts took no action against them
> for “praising crime” or “stirring hatred among the
> people.”"<END QUOTE>[/indent]
In fact, many commentators are pointing out that Turks are now
fighting each other as much as they're fighting ISIS and the PKK.
CNN and Globe and Mail (Canada) and Hurriyet (Ankara)
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Turkey, Istanbul, Reina nightclub,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Paris, Bataclan, Orlando, Russia, Andrey Karlov,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, TAK,
Soner Cagaptay, Simon Waldman, Murat Yetkin
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Istanbul Turkey New Year's terror attack compared to Paris and Orlando attacks
- Terror attacks expose deep divisions in Turkey's society
****
**** Istanbul Turkey New Year's terror attack compared to Paris and Orlando attacks
****
Reina nightclub in Istanbul on Sunday morning, several hours after the attack (EPA)
The people of Turkey were once again traumatized by a new terror
attack, this time on a well-known Reina night club in Istanbul, where
crowds of 700 people, both Turks and foreigners, were celebrating the
New Year. At around 1:15 am on January 1, a gunman opened fire on
people in the packed nightclub, killing at 39 people and injuring 65
others. The gunman fled and is still at large.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it's believed to
be the work of the so-called Islamic State (IS or ISIS or ISIL or
Daesh), because of the similarity to attacks in Paris and Orlando,
where attackers killed civilians indiscriminately in entertainment
venues.
In Paris on November 13, 2015, three suicide bombers detonated
themselves at a football (soccer) game. Then terrorists targeted
three cafes and restaurants with gunfire, and then attacked the
Bataclan theatre, where three gunmen opened fire on a large crowd.
In all, 130 people were killed. These attacks were planned
and carried out by an ISIS terror cell in Brussels.
In Orlando on June 12, 2016, 49 people were killed by a gunman at a
local gay nightclub. The assailant had sworn allegiance to ISIS, but
no concrete links were found.
Turkey has suffered dozens of terrorist attacks in the past 18 months,
killing hundreds of people. The perpetrators have been both ISIS and
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), including the PKK offshoot Kurdistan
Freedom Falcons (TAK). There have been four previous terrorist
attacks in just the five weeks:
- November 24: Car bomb targeting a government building in Adana
kills two people and injures 33.
- December 10 – TAK terrorist car bombing in Istanbul killed 44
people, wounding 155.
- December 17 – Suicide car bombing of a public bus in the central
Anatolian city of Kayseri, killing 14 soldiers and wounding 55
others.
- December 19 -- Assassination of Andrey Karlov, Russia's ambassador
to Turkey, in Ankara by an officer in Turkey's security
forces.
The Turkish people have been traumatized not only by the endless
stream of terrorist attacks, but also by the July 15 failed coup
attempt. Hurriyet (Ankara) and Daily Sabah (Ankara) and AP
Related Articles
- Terror in Berlin and Ankara as Russia's ambassador to Turkey shot dead (20-Dec-2016)
- Bombing of Turkey's airport affects a swirl of diplomatic actions (29-Jun-2016)
- Paris and Beirut in shock and anger after massive terrorist attacks (14-Nov-2015)
- Orlando nightclub terror attack may be result of ISIS and al-Qaeda troubles (13-Jun-2016)
****
**** Terror attacks expose deep divisions in Turkey's society
****
Ever since the July 15 coup attempt, Turkey's president
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been fired or jailed well over 100,000
people. Erdogan has particularly targeted journalists that
write dissenting articles, but the targeted people also include
members of parliament and other politicians, judges, police,
and teachers.
Since many of the people targeted are from the political opposition or
are dissenters from Erdogan's policies, many people believe that
Erdogan is using the coup attempt to eliminate his political enemies
by force, including violence. This view is supported by the fact that
Erdogan had already begun targeting the political opposition when he
shut down the opposition newspaper Zaman several months before the
coup attempt. These attacks have enormously polarized the Turkish
people, with about half supporting Erdogan, and half despising him.
One analyst, Soner Cagaptay of the Turkish Research Program at the
Washington Institute says that Turkey's population is sharply divided
into two approximately equal groups:
- About one-half of the country's population comprise leftists,
liberals, social democrats, Alevis (who are liberal Muslims),
secularists and Kurds. Since taking office in 2003, Erdogan
demonized, targeted, and brutally cracked down on these people, many
of whom loathe him.
- The other half is a loyal, right wing constituency, including
Turkish nationalists, conservatives and Islamists. These people adore
him.
Another analyst, Simon Waldman, notes that Erdogan's reaction to the
New Year's attack was different from his reaction to other attacks in
that, unlike other times, Erdogan did not refer to the people who were
killed as "martyrs." This word is almost always used by Erdogan with
the death of a Turkish citizen in a terrorist attack or from military
combat. But in this case, Erdogan said, "I offer my condolences to
our citizens’, to our foreign guests’ and to our security officer’s
families."
Waldman speculates that the reason is that the attack was on a
nightclub where alcohol was served, and the people were celebrating
not only the New Year but also Christmas, as these two holidays are
often conflated by Muslims. These are secular things that are
strongly condemned by hardcore conservative Muslim clerics, and indeed
it's suspected that the terrorist attack was inspired by opposition to
Christmas and New Year's parties. Indeed, the attacker was wearing a
Santa Claus hat.
In fact, Hurriyet columnist Murat Yetkin suggests that the "poisonous"
atmosphere in Turkey is because by "rising nationalist and
religious chauvinism":
> [indent]<QUOTE>"Another question surrounds the political atmosphere
> in Turkey, which is getting more poisonous every day with rising
> nationalist and religious chauvinism. Religious Affairs
> Directorate head Mehmet Görmez was quick to make a statement after
> the attack, saying there was “no difference” between terror
> attacks targeting places of worship and attacks targeting
> entertainment sites, and they should be equally condemned. That
> statement followed cheering after the attack among certain social
> media users who believe that celebrating the New Year is
> un-Islamic and something to be despised.
>
> Görmez’s statement was welcome. But just two days before, the
> Friday sermon prepared by Görmez’s Diyanet and read in more than
> 80,000 mosques across Turkey harshly criticized New Year
> celebrations as illegitimate and having no place in Islam or
> Turkey’s cultural traditions. Only a few days ago, members of an
> ultranationalist group made headlines by performing street theater
> in the Western province of Aydin by pointing a pistol at the
> forehead of another militant dressed in a Santa Claus
> costume. Unlike the cases frequently opened against critical media
> in Turkey, the police and the courts took no action against them
> for “praising crime” or “stirring hatred among the
> people.”"<END QUOTE>[/indent]
In fact, many commentators are pointing out that Turks are now
fighting each other as much as they're fighting ISIS and the PKK.
CNN and Globe and Mail (Canada) and Hurriyet (Ankara)
Related Articles
- Turkey's Erdogan eliminates more opposition in quest for power (06-Nov-2016)
- Turkey's 'shameful day for free press' as government seizes Zaman media (06-Mar-2016)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, Turkey, Istanbul, Reina nightclub,
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Paris, Bataclan, Orlando, Russia, Andrey Karlov,
Islamic State / of Iraq and Syria/Sham/the Levant, IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh,
Kurdistan Workers’ Party, PKK, Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, TAK,
Soner Cagaptay, Simon Waldman, Murat Yetkin
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
