Not playing into the hands of terrorists

We are expected, no matter what, to not make them happy. We are expected to not give them the reaction they want.  

First of all, we have to diagnose correctly the aim of terrorism and where it wants to drag us. Former military intelligence chief İsmail Hakkı Pekin recently spoke to daily Aydınlık and described the aim of the bomb attack in Beşiktaş: “The aim is to make us buckle under the EU and the U.S., to bring us to blows with Russia, to make us give up our plans to join the Shanghai Five, to break our relationship with Iran and China, to prevent us from using local currencies in trade.”  

In other words, Pekin claimed that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is conducting massacres to make us move away from Russia, China and Iran and to get us to move closer to the EU and the U.S. 

We are already full of rage against the West, and this justified anger is being directed toward the EU and the U.S. The dominant mood is similar to the stance of retired general Pekin, holding the West responsible for PKK terror.  

Nobody is thinking, “Well, is Russia not also benefiting from this massacre?”

Nobody ever thinks of the other possibility, that the idea that “the PKK is working for the EU and the U.S.” may be part of Russian propaganda. It is not impossible that we are subject to an operation to snatch us away from the Western alliance and push us toward Russia and Iran.  

It is as if the West is behind the PKK and somehow Russia and Iran never are. 

It is as if the EU and the U.S. want to bring us to heel but Russia and Iran have never thought of this. It is as if the former are providing arms to the PKK and the latter never do so. It is as if the former are enemies trying to drag us into chaos and the latter are true friends who love us unconditionally.

It is as if Europe takes terror under its wing and cannot be trusted but Russia and Iran never doing the same and can be fully trusted. It is as if the EU and the U.S. are hypocrites mired in double standards but Russia and Iran are very honest and sincere.

It is as if we have already forgotten who has been killing children and civilians in Aleppo. 

Silencing the songs 

Popular singer Hülya Avşar was performing on stage when she heard news of the Beşiktaş attacks. She stopped and told the audience that she does not feel like singing anymore. 

“I don’t know if I did the right thing or the wrong thing. My feelings are mixed. I think I did the right thing,” she said later. 

She was right to listen to her inner voice. Most of us had the same first reaction at the heat of the moment. 
Then we found ways to show that terrorists will not be able to scare us and intimidate us. We wept but then we clamped together behind our police. We did not hide our pain.  

I am not so sure that we do the right thing in the aftermath of terror attacks, of which we have plenty of experience. 

We are expected to remain positive and refuse to serve the purposes of terror. We are expected to avoid making terrorists happy. We are expected to avoid becoming tools of their propaganda. We are expected to not be dragged to the place where they want to take us. 

We are certainly good at maintaining our social positivity, but I am not so sure that we are doing the rest correctly.