By Yusuf KANLI
TDN - It was a rather sad day. First there came a very worrisome report from the eastern city of Agri. News agencies reported that terrorists of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, gang had kidnapped three of the 13 German climbers on Mount Ararat late Tuesday. While the shock of the kidnapping had not yet abated, breaking news bulletins started pouring in from news agencies and news channels that four unidentified gunmen attacked a police checkpoint outside the well-fortified U.S. Consulate in Istanbul and killed three policemen. Three of the terrorists were killed in the ensuing gunfight, while the fourth one (the driver) has reportedly escaped; operations are continuing for his capture.
Naturally, everyone hearing these reports could not believe their ears for minutes, as, after Turkey's successful cross-border operations on its hideouts in northern Iraq, the PKK was unable for some time to stage any major action, while since the 2003 attacks on the British Consulate and Istanbul headquarters of a British bank, there has not been any major attack against foreign establishments in Turkey.
The Mount Ararat kidnapping of three German climbers and the attack on the police checkpoint in front of the U.S. consulate building, of course, are terrorist incidents that must be condemned by everyone. Agri Governor Mehmet Çetin said yesterday five separatist terrorists had apparently ambushed the camp of German climbers and kidnapped three of them in apparent protest to Germany's recent crackdown on supporters of the separatist terrorist group in Germany. Appeasing terrorists has never helped anyone and will not help anyone. Rather than bowing to such heinous acts, I am confident that Germany will boost its anti-terrorism cooperation with Turkey. Let's all hope that the operations launched in the area by the Turkish security forces succeed in netting the terrorists soon and rescuing unhurt the kidnapped German climbers.
American Ambassador Ross Wilson was quite clear in his condemnation of terrorism after yesterday's terrorist attack in front of the U.S. Istanbul Consulate. Efforts by some arrogant provocateurs posing as journalists - it is indeed very sad for me to accept my colleagues engaging in such a smear campaign against the people detained within the framework of the "Ergenekon" probe - failed and the ambassador not only reiterated and underlined boldly the U.S. determination to continue anti-terrorism cooperation with Turkey, but also stressed that there was no evidence indicating a link between the attack on the policemen and the Ergenekon probe.
But, of course, there is a very strong connection between the Istanbul attack, the Agri kidnappings and the current atmosphere of uncertainty created by the closure case against the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and the "Ergenekon" probe which has been continuing in such a fashion that has turned this country into an "empire of fear."
Wolves like misty atmosphere, terrorists love sowing seeds of fear in already blurred and scared societies.
Not only were those three policemen trying to fulfill their duties in front of the U.S. Consulate killed yesterday, we are all wounded and our pain cannot be consoled with the fact that three of the four terrorists were killed as well in the shootout. A "reporter" asked Wilson yesterday: "Was this a terrorist attack?" What naivety! How cannot a reporter fail to see that an attack on a police checkpoint in front of a diplomatic mission can be nothing but a terrorist action which has to be deplored by anyone without uttering any ifs and buts?
Hear Wilson's call:
Of course there cannot be any letup in either Turkey's resolve to fight terrorism, or Turkish-American or Turkish-German anti-terror cooperation because of these kidnappings or cowardly killings. On the contrary, such despicable acts of terrorism must multiply the resolve to stand against terrorism and must help the international community grasp better the bitter reality that terrorism is a menace threatening not one country or nation, but all of humanity and the entire international community of nations and that we should succeed in forging a common front in combating it. That is a must for success against terrorism.
And, Turkey must hear the call of Ambassador Wilson and urgently boost security around foreign missions and economic establishments as terrorists may attempt to make best use of the atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability in this country.
Yes, the Istanbul attack was a cowardly one. It was a heinous one. Fire has fallen not only in the families of those three slain policemen, but in every family in this country. But, if security measures are not increased particularly in major cities of the country and at places frequented by foreigners, I am afraid we will have more fire in our hearts. (Yusuf Kanly can be contacted at [email protected] or [email protected])