​This is not terror, it is denial and delusion

TURKEY - In Brief 29 Jun 2016 by Atilla Yesilada

---

With a heavy and bitter sense of déjà vu, once again I write about terror in Turkey. The target is Turkey’s pride international airport. The prime suspect ISIS, casualty count so far: 36 dead and 147 injured. Lessons drawn: Nil. Conclusion: Expect more attacks, a devastation of the tourism industry and potential deterioration of consumer confidence. Erdogan says the terror strike could have happened anywhere, blames the Uber-mind which is trying to besmirch the good name of Turkey, while the pro-AKP press is trying to convince the people that security in Ataturk Airport was perfect. At the same time, the twitter feed is about CIA warning Turkey about 30 ISIS or al Qaeda militants having entered the country before Ramadan, police having shadowed the culprits of past attacks for two years without taking any measures, bosses in National Intelligence Agency ordering their underlings not to monitor Arabic social media chatter, and other incidents showing complete impunity. The facts are simple. AKP is mentally not ready to accept that ISIS and several other radical fundamentalist terror organizations have widely infiltrated its auxiliary organizations and can strike at will. The police and courts, mostly staffed with devout Moslems simply don’t consider the preaching of jihadist version of Quran or recruiting and aid collection for radical organizations as criminal activities. As ISIS is about to lose Manbij in Syria, or even Raqqa, more of its militants would migrate to Turkey, attempting to activate sleeper networks and blackmailing AKP to re-open former supply routes, or even to establish emirates in border provinces. Nothing short of an effort similar to the all-out pur...