Terror and tourism

TURKEY - In Brief 07 Jun 2016 by Atilla Yesilada

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Another deadly car bomb killed seven policemen and four civilians in the old city district of Vezneciler (Istanbul) today, while injuring 36, of whom 3 are reported to be in critical condition. The bomb was so powerful that two historic mosques, a hotel and a co-ed dormitory were partially damaged, with a smoke cloud visible from miles away. As I write these lines, the perpetrators are not known, but I would put my money on PKK, which has been decisively beaten in the urban areas of Kurdish provinces, while coming under heavy pressure by the Turkish Army in rural areas. It needs to keep its support alive by its national cell structure by these vicious and mindless acts of violence, until its ally in Syria the PYD-YPG finishes encircling the Turkish border between Syrian towns of Jarablus and Afrin. But, according to a circular by the Kilis Province police chief leaked to opposition daily Cumhuriyet, ISIS now wants to expand its so-called Caliphate to the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Gaziantep and could have well orchestrated this terror attack, too. Minutes before the horrifying manslaughter, Turkish TVs reported that the chairman of the Kocaeli Chamber of Commerce was detained on charges of aiding and abetting the Gulenist “terror organization”. Yesterday, a similar sting operation netted dozens of businesspeople in Adana. With the intelligence and police ordered to root out Gulen followers as their first priority, and take it easy on ISIS sympathizers, it is difficult for me to believe that this would be the last terror strike by any means. Developments at our Syrian border, too, might lead to more terror acts. PYD-YPG is about to capture Manbij, 25 miles So...