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| The Grand Turk |
| Bomb attack deepens divisions as Turkey faces bitter election |
| 2015-10-13 |
| [IN.REUTERS] Aside from a carefully worded statement urging unity, President Tayyip Erdogan was unusually quiet after ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... 's worst ever kaboom. Modern Turkey's most divisive ...politicians call things divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive,they're principled... leader has in the past had no hesitation in dominating the air waves at times of crisis, rallying his fervent supporters and lambasting his opponents in equal measure in defence of the state. But the double suicide kaboom that killed up to 128 people at a rally by pro-Kurdish and leftist activists on Saturday, three weeks before an election, has sparked criticism of Erdogan's administration just as Turkey is already beset by conflict in its Kurdish southeast and seemingly paralysed by the growing spillover from Syria's war. For those loyal to Erdogan and the Islamist-rooted AK Party he founded, the bombings marked another murky conspiracy by foreign-backed forces to undermine the Turkish state and damage its standing in the Middle East. For his opponents, including the pro-Kurdish opposition party apparently targeted in the blasts, his administration has blood on its hands - at best for intelligence failings, at worst for complicity in a bid to stir up nationalist sentiment. "Once the initial shock has subsided, the attack appears likely to exacerbate the already deep cleavages in a dangerously divided society," said Wolfango Piccoli, managing director of London-based Teneo Intelligence. Investigations are focusing on Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... , senior security sources told Rooters, although Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in the hours after the blasts that any of a plethora of radical groups could have been responsible, from Islamist or Kurdish factions to far-leftists. Islamic State has openly claimed past attacks, sometimes opportunistically taking responsibility for actions it did not direct. There has been no such claim for the Ankara bombing, and sceptics see the group as a convenient scapegoat. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #10 From Pappy's link: Turkey is the principal ally of the Chechen independence fighters I didn't know this. Wouldn't that make Vlad...annoyed? Erdogan should be nervous. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2015-10-13 18:22 |
| #9 In more ways than just Chechnya. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-10-13 18:10 |
| #8 That's Vlad's problem |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-10-13 15:45 |
| #7 So, if we can cure them of the desire to kill Kurds... And of this little problem.... |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-10-13 15:22 |
| #6 So, if we can cure them of the desire to kill Kurds... |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2015-10-13 14:39 |
| #5 Wikipedia's article on Turkey's Grey Wolves. Not nice people, fond of killing leftists and Kurds. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2015-10-13 14:35 |
| #4 ISTR the PKK claims their attacks. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2015-10-13 12:25 |
| #3 a GOOD chance |
| Posted by: Frank G 2015-10-13 08:58 |
| #2 Any chance this is Erdogan's work? Kinda like an astro-turf campaign? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2015-10-13 07:49 |
| #1 There has been no such claim for the Ankara bombing, and sceptics see the group as a convenient scapegoat I still favor Islamic State as the culprit, with the Gray Wolves as a close runner-up, and PKK a distant third. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2015-10-13 00:10 |