by Ugur Akinci
http://tork.blogspot.com
The recent bombings in Istanbul created a sharper-than-usual focus on Turkey in the American media as a terror attack on secular values and the only NATO-member Muslim country in the world. Two Turkish think-tank scholars in Washington D.C. evaluated the situation and brought up valuable discussion points.
Zeyno Baran, the Director of International Security and Energy Programs at the Nixon Center, emphasized that Europe, which has the most to lose from continuation of such attacks, has much house-cleaning to do as well:
“The E.U. can, if it wants, help Turkey by moving against the sort of groups that foster the permissive environment in which Al Qaeda successfully operates. While Turkey needs to fulfill the criteria for E.U. membership, Brussels must reciprocate by opening its eyes to the realities of the current borderless war against terrorism. The slack attitude of the E.U. is illustrated by the fact that the Turkish Great Eastern Islamic Raiders Front is still not considered by Brussels to be a terrorist group.”
“Indeed, it was only recently that the E.U. listed the Revolutionary People`s Liberation Party/Front as a terrorist group, even though this extreme leftwing organization has for decades committed scores of murders, killing Europeans as well as Americans. It remains to be seen if Brussels will assist Turkey by interdicting funding for Turkish Hezbollah, an organization (unrelated to Lebanese Hezbollah) that has brutally killed dozens of Turks for not being "Muslim enough." And the Kaplan group, which has been based in Germany, has clear links to Al Qaeda. According to Turkish intelligence, the Kaplan group planned to hijack an aircraft and crash it into Ataturk`s mausoleum and met with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan.”
Soner Cagaptay, Coordinator of the Turkish Research Program at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also pointed out to Europe`s responsibility in stemming the tide of Jihadist terror: “Although many of Turkey`s small, militant Islamist groups were crushed by Ankara during the 1990s, they continue to operate freely in the European Union (EU). Two of the most notable example are the previously mentioned IBDA-C and the Union of Islamic Communities (UIC), an organization based in Germany and intent on reestablishing the caliphate.”
“Some EU governments may not want to rock the boat by targeting such groups. After all, no Turkish terrorist cells have attacked their EU host countries. If the EU does not tackle this problem now, however, it could face the problem of a destabilized Turkey later. Shutting down IBDA-C, UIC, and other Turkish terrorist organizations would not only help safeguard Turkey, but would also enhance the EU`s own security against terrorist attacks.”
Cagaptay also added that the U.S. Could also do her share by “leading the fight against Iraq-based terrorist groups” and “these include Ansar, which is likely the principal liaison between al-Qaeda, Iran, and local terrorist cells in Turkey.”
Another scholar, Ozdem Sanberk, a former Turkish ambassador to London, and currently the Director of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation, similarly pointed out to the role EU can and must play to assure Turkish-EU joint security:
"In this situation, I think the leaders of Europe owe it to [Turkish PM Erdogan] and to the Turkish people to demonstrate clearly that they regard the Istanbul attacks as an attack on Europe itself and on Europeans. They also need to remind their publics that, in the long term, attacks on the security of Turkey are attacks on their own security and that terrorists from Turkey should be given neither shelter nor sympathy in Europe."
"Many European leaders have said exactly the right sort of thing since November 20, but they need to say it together, perhaps at the next European Council, and to lead their public opinion on this matter. Doing that would both reassure the people of Istanbul - who today feel more than a little abandoned by the rest of the continent - and help build up the solidarity that is essential to defeating those who dream of destroying western democratic systems wherever they can."