Why Turkey — where Asia and Europe converge — is such a prime terror target

THE terrorist attacks on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport must be a turning point for Turkey and its President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, writes Paul Toohey.

Three suicide bombers opened fire before blowing themselves up at the entrance to the main international airport in Istanbul, killing at least 31 people and wounding 147. Picture: Defne Karadeniz/Getty

ANALYSIS

Turkey, where Asia and Europe converge, where east meets west, is a soft target for terror.

It has been in recent years the entry point for foreign fighters making their way to Syria, on its southern flank, and the exit point for Syrian citizens fleeing the trouble and heading west to Europe.

AIRPORT ATTACK: Istanbul rocked by terror attack

Forensic police work the site at Ataturk airport in Istanbul after a suicide attack. Picture: AFP/ OZAN KOSE

Majority Islamic, Turkey has long fought to be seen as politically secular, although some of that pretence has been dropped by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is now taking the country down a harder Islamic path.

Turkey is no friend to the Kurds, who live in Turkey in great numbers and have been accused of most terror strikes within the country in recent years. Ergodan’s response to the war in Syria has not been to bomb the Islamic State, but to strike Kurdish positions.

While not sharing the methodology of ISIS, Ergodan shares its hatred of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

And Ankara has been accused of facilitating, or turning a blind eye to arms shipments going through its borders to the ISIS combatants, who have been able to ship oil out of the war zone through to the Turkish black market.

Yet Turkey has quickly blamed the latest terror strike at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport on ISIS, as it did last year’s massive suicide attack in the capital, and the suicide bombings earlier this year near Istanbul’s most famous tourist sites, the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

One question in the aftermath of the bombing is what ISIS hopes to gain by inviting the wrath of Turkey, which has so far refrained from taking hard action against it in Syria.

Most likely, if this is ISIS and not the Kurds or another third force, it is simply following its agenda of chaos.

Tourism numbers to Turkey drop as terror attacks increase. Picture: AFP/ OZAN KOSE

It is coming on high tourist season in Turkey. This act — like the Hagia Sophia — is designed to rattle visitors hoping to visit Istanbul, one of the most exciting cities in the world, and to hurt the government.

Turkey has seen a massive slump in visitors, especially from Russia, due to tensions over Moscow’s support of al-Assad and the shooting down of a Russian fighter.

Ergodan responded to the latest carnage saying it was time for a “decisive stance” against terror.

“I hope that the Ataturk Airport attack, especially in Western countries all over the world, will be a milestone for the joint fight against terrorist organisations, a turning point,” he said.

The truth is that many hope that Ergodan himself recognises it is now up to him to take a decisive stance against ISIS.

Originally published as Why Turkey — where Asia and Europe converge — is such a prime terror target