BY FEHMI KORU
YENI SAFAK- This is not the first time that Turkey has come face-to-face with terror; it has been dealing with ‘ethnic’ terror for the last 20 years but before that, there was also the era of ‘ideological terror.’ Turkey may be a worldwide leader of sorts in being ‘educated’ through this fire.
The latest terror attacks in our terror-weary country were truly bizarre. One searches in vain for any relation between the forms of the movements, their targets and aims, and the group believed to be behind these attacks.
Take last week’s attack against Van Governor Hikmet Tan for instance. The terrorist PKK is said to be behind it but clearly the attack bears none of the hallmarks of ones by the PKK/Kongra-Gel. Groups tied to Kongra-Gel disavowed the attack. Meanwhile, we shouldn’t forget that the recently released Kurdish former deputies immediately condemned the attack.
Therefore, we must ask this: if this was a PKK/Kongra Gel attack, why are they denying it, and if not, then whose was it? But by getting a bit used to these terror movements, we don’t see them as multi-dimensional.
At this point, Turkey must above all correctly identify the terror that has been set into motion again. The implications for our EU bid are obvious, and our approaching membership may cause even worse terror.
If we don’t want to tolerate terror, the first thing to do is to identify it correctly.