The terror spiral that has embroiled Turkey
It was not centuries ago. It was not years ago. It was only 16 months ago that this society managed to open the door for a possible coalition government. The results of the June 7, 2015 general election reflected the need for reconciliation in the seat distribution at the Turkish Parliament.
Ultimately, that did not happen. Reconciliation was never reached. A kind of machine cranked into gear, targeting the fault lines of society. Violence dominated speech.
The first terror act that shook society occurred on July 20, 2015. In the southeastern town of Suruç, a suicide bomber of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) named Abdurrahman Alagöz staged a suicide attack, killing 34 people and injuring more than 100.
A few months later, just before the Nov. 5, 2015 repeat election, in front of the main train station in the capital Ankara on Oct. 10 another ISIL militant, Yunus Emre Alagöz, committed the bloodiest terror attack in Turkey’s history. Apart from the attackers, 107 innocent people were killed and hundreds of people were injured.
Let’s refresh our memories
What happened after Oct. 10?
First there were statements issued calling this a “cocktail terror;” then there were references to “It is obvious who will benefit from this.” Then later, surveys were released saying, “Look, we have benefited from this.”
What has happened after Oct. 10?
It was understood that the two brothers who conducted the attacks, during the time when they killed dozens of people a couple of months apart; they were both under technical surveillance.
The fate of the democracy monument
What happened after Oct. 10?
In the square where the attack took place, a monument named the “Oct. 10 Peace, Labor and Democracy Monument” was erected. That monument was vandalized by a group who took to the streets for “democracy” during the days after the July 15 coup attempt.
What happened after Oct. 10?
The court case into the attack will start next month, on Nov. 22. Are we finally going to be able to learn the details of what happened? Will we be able to find the truth? Are we going to be able to catch the real criminal, the provocateur, the power broker?
What happened after Oct. 10?
A stage of emergency (OHAL) was declared after the July 15 failed coup attempt. This affected those who wanted to march in order to commemorate the victims of Oct. 10. Their march was banned.
What happened after Oct. 10?
There was huge chaos in which all kinds of guilt and evil were mixed-up. Attacks carried out by ISIL and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) followed one after the other.
On Jan. 12, 2016, 11 people, all visiting tourists, were killed in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet Square. On Feb. 17, 2016, on Merasim Street in Ankara, 29 people were killed. On March 13, in Ankara, right next to Güvenpark at the bus stop 38 people were killed. On March 19, on Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue, five people were killed.
But let’s not count them all one by one. There are actually dozens of attacks, hundreds of casualties, thousands of injured people in our memories, which have been tested with pain for generations. There are friends and relatives of those killed who have been left alone with their sorrow.
In the terror spiral
What happened after Oct. 10?
Suicide attacks occurred in Bursa, Istanbul, Gaziantep and the southeastern town Cizre.
Terrorism came to us in waves and in growing sizes. At times it was suicide bombers; at other times it was an ambush attack. Attacks were also carried out by coup-plotting soldiers.
Dozens died on Diyarbakır’s historic streets, in the mountains, on bridges, at weddings, on official duty...
Most recently, on Oct. 9 the PKK attacked Şemdinli with a car bomb. Fifteen people were killed, 10 of them soldiers and five of them civilians.
What happened after Oct. 10?
What has happened? Are you really asking what has happened?
Mothers have constantly been in tears.
That has happened.
Condolences to all of us…
