CUI BONO?
On 13 November, a bomb attack occurred in a busy street in Istanbul, leaving six dead, including two children aged 9 and 15, and 81 injured. Attacks of this kind, that is, attacks in which random innocent men, women and children are maimed and killed, are for me among the most heinous crimes I can possibly imagine.
But the quick success of the investigation and the manhunt - the perpetrator was caught and presented to the public within a very short time - seems very strange to me. The perpetrator is said to be a Syrian national who describes herself as a supporter of the PKK and the PYD, its Syrian sister party, as well as its militia YPG, and admits to having received the order for this attack from the PKK. The PKK, however, vehemently denies involvement.
To commission a terrorist attack and then deny it would be unusual, to say the least. Moreover, terrorist attacks, as reprehensible as they may be, usually have a purpose, for example, to sow unrest and then profit from it, to free comrades-in-arms, to attack hated people and/or ways of life, to take revenge for something, to wage war in this way - whatever. In any case, the perpetrators of terrorist attacks are always interested in a subjective or objective benefit. A terrorist attack that, apart from the victims and their relatives, only harms the perpetrators but benefits the enemy all the more, is actually inconceivable. And that is exactly what is supposed to have happened here! The only beneficiary of this attack is Erdogan, who now has good arguments to take military action against the PKK and the YPG, and who can now play the strong man in the NATO accession negotiations of Sweden and Finland. Besides, elections are coming up...
Today, during a smoke break, I was face to face with a Turkish colleague who is not religious and not an Erdogan supporter, but who is not particularly politically engaged either, and I approached her cautiously about this issue. But she immediately said that it was absolutely clear to her that Erdogan himself was behind these attacks. And all the Turks she knows see it the same way, she said. "So I'm not alone in this view?" I asked, just to be sure. "No, no, not at all!" she answered.
CUI BONO?
On 13 November, a bomb attack occurred in a busy street in Istanbul, leaving six dead, including two children aged 9 and 15, and 81 injured. Attacks of this kind, that is, attacks in which random innocent men, women and children are maimed and killed, are for me among the most heinous crimes I can possibly imagine.
But the quick success of the investigation and the manhunt - the perpetrator was caught and presented to the public within a very short time - seems very strange to me. The perpetrator is said to be a Syrian national who describes herself as a supporter of the PKK and the PYD, its Syrian sister party, as well as its militia YPG, and admits to having received the order for this attack from the PKK. The PKK, however, vehemently denies involvement.
To commission a terrorist attack and then deny it would be unusual, to say the least. Moreover, terrorist attacks, as reprehensible as they may be, usually have a purpose, for example, to sow unrest and then profit from it, to free comrades-in-arms, to attack hated people and/or ways of life, to take revenge for something, to wage war in this way - whatever. In any case, the perpetrators of terrorist attacks are always interested in a subjective or objective benefit. A terrorist attack that, apart from the victims and their relatives, only harms the perpetrators but benefits the enemy all the more, is actually inconceivable. And that is exactly what is supposed to have happened here! The only beneficiary of this attack is Erdogan, who now has good arguments to take military action against the PKK and the YPG, and who can now play the strong man in the NATO accession negotiations of Sweden and Finland. Besides, elections are coming up...
Today, during a smoke break, I was face to face with a Turkish colleague who is not religious and not an Erdogan supporter, but who is not particularly politically engaged either, and I approached her cautiously about this issue. But she immediately said that it was absolutely clear to her that Erdogan himself was behind these attacks. And all the Turks she knows see it the same way, she said. "So I'm not alone in this view?" I asked, just to be sure. "No, no, not at all!" she answered.