A suicide bombing against an outdoor wedding party in the southern Turkish city of Gazientep has killed at least 51 people and wounded 94 others, according to officials. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.
Turkish officials appeared to concede they aren’t sure who was behind the attack, with Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek saying that the PKK, ISIS, and the Gulenist movement are all attacking Turkey right now, and that the country will overcome all these strikes.
ISIS is probably the best bet, however, as the city is just north of the Syrian border, and on the Syrian side it is an area controlled overwhelmingly by ISIS in the Aleppo Province. ISIS also tends to be less willing to take credit for attacks inside Turkey. That this was in a mostly Kurdish district and many of the attendees were Kurds also makes a PKK strike relatively less likely.
Turkey has struggled with growing numbers of terrorist attacks from myriad different groups nationwide, including not just the PKK and ISIS, but also groups like the Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front. Turkey is also in the midst of a massive purge after last month’s failed military coup, which the government is blaming on the Gulenist movement. This purge has seen over 40,000 people jailed and much larger numbers fired from government posts.
This major attack, while just one of many for Turkey, is likely to raise questions about whether the purge is weakening the government’s ability to prevent terrorist operations inside major cities in the country, and could prove embarrassing for the Erdogan government.
Why would that be “embarrassing” for Erdogan? It is clear to population that this is to be expected. ISIS always seem to find the way to cause damage to whoever US is displeased with. So, it will be again ascribed — rightly or wrongly, to US. When it comes to Gulen — his fingers were once in Chechya, and “his” Foundation is a cover for dirty work of all kinds. So, no shock there. Far from being embarrassed, he is being proved right. What is next? Try to bring in thousands of “rebels” against Turkish government, and fight for “democracy” in Turkey. Old, ancient. And will not work in Turkey. Population is more homogenous, not fractured along ethnic and religious lines like in Syria. There, it was mighty easy to make groups be afraid of each other.
There is more and more credibility being attached to the charge that the US had it’s hands in the coup attempt in Turkey. How far will the US go in it’s attempts to take control of Syria and Iran and thusly the entire ME? How many people must die?
Even in my own country, Canada, the support for the US is strong. Or so it appears from the media’s POV. When our Prime Minister attempted to minimize our warring contribution by pulling our 6 bombers out of the ME war, the attacks from the political right were outrageously loud. His initiative succeeded but the media was able to portray it as nothing but replacing the bombers with ground troops. Trudeau was so outnumbered and outgunned by the public opinion that the media generated that he has not backed off and is attempting very little to help.
The initiative is going to have to be taken by the US. When the American people begin to raise enough hell then their government will need to step into line with the people. From Trudeau’s testing of the waters it’s now apparent that the changes won’t be initiated from within Canada. Nor will any of the other Nato countries be capable of doing it. It’s up to the US to lead the way.
And that’s where it becomes encouraging! The groundswell against more US led wars is growing in the US. It’s not there yet but after the president is elected, which will obviously be Clinton, the discontent will grow again because it will have a target. The phony groundswell that was always mostly based on racism will be gone and the objective could become honest.
Americans don’t have to accept the reason for failure Bianca. They won’t even have to admit to what is different. They will just wake up to find they have a president to direct true antiwar hate against and with that may come the momentum for change that’s necessary.
I meant “now” backed off” rather than “not backed off”.
Trump is false hope for the change to the US being against it’s coming wars. He isn’t real in the least and all he does is promise what he has no responsibility to live up to. And he will be defeated almost certainly now.
But that’s a good thing for the antiwar movement because the people who supported Trump do have some sincerity in their hearts and minds. And combined with the American people who choose Clinton because she is the only sane choice, the antiwar cause could come together and start to make a difference.
I see hope because what Trump has unwittingly started is a protest movement. So regardless of whether he had any intentions of following through, which he obviously hadn’t, the people will be waiting for it to happen. And the frustration and hate that will be generated by the Clinton president could gel together on both sides.
A brief caution: This is not intended for the Trump supporters who won’t understand and will not listen to the obvious. It is intended for the people on antiwar.com who are genuinely against both candidates. And regardless of their libertarian, green, protest agendas, they are ‘for real’ and will be on the side that fights for the change we are hoping for.
The time is coming for everybody to put their left, right, libertarian, communist, fascist, green, whatever agenda on the back burner. The current desperation with the people could make it happen!