On Monday, a group of activists consisting mainly of university students was the target of a suicide bombing attack, killing more than 30 and wounding over 100. The bombing occurred at the town of Suruc, a few kilometres away from Kobani, Syria, where the activists intended to rebuild some areas damaged in fights against the Islamic State. The bomber was identified as Seyh Abdurrahman Alagoz, a 20-year old Kurd who reportedly had links to IS.
Shortly after the bombing attack, Kurdish militants (namely, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a banned group in Turkey) killed two police officers, whom they claimed had been in league with the bomber.
While IS did not claim responsibility for the bombing, IS fighters then attacked a Turkish border post. One Turkish soldier was killed in the attack.
The Turkish government immediately blamed the Islamic State, with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu saying that “the first indications point to IS” – which is unusual, as Turkey has long been criticized for their reluctance to get involved in the war against IS despite their proximity, and has tended to blame past attacks on the Syrian government. Considering Turkey’s ongoing issues with their Kurdish population, and long enmity with Bashar al-Assad, had IS genuinely not been involved or had Turkey not wanted to fight IS, they would have had ready-made excuses to avoid being drawn further into the war. However, it seems that IS has become too dangerous and too brash for Turkey to ignore.
As a result, Turkey carried out air strikes against three IS bases in Syria, its first confirmed attack against IS. At the same time, Turkish police arrested hundreds of Kurdish activists and bombed PKK camps in Iraq – the first time Turkey has attacked the Kurdish group since a 2013 ceasefire. While there have been nominal peace talks after this ceasefire, tension between the Turkish government and Kurds rose in recent months.
Turkey, meanwhile, claims to be serious in its intention to retaliate against IS attacks. In a phone call with U.S. President Obama, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to allow American forces to use the airbase at Incirlik, a decision that was months in the making. This could allow the U.S. to increase their bombing raids against IS, which occupies large parts of Syria and northern Iraq.
All in all, the incidents of the last weeks may have a net positive result in the fight against IS. Turkey so far has refused to participate in fighting despite nominally being against IS, and has even been accused by many of indirectly supporting them, by allowing fighters to cross the border and even supplying them with money and weapons. This was mainly because of Turkey’s enmity with both Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria and Kurdish separatists in Turkey, both of whom are currently struggling against IS. Thus, Turkey saw fit to turn a blind eye to IS activity; but it seems that this time IS has overstepped itself.
It seems a shame, however, that 32 young men and women needed to die needlessly to spark this change of attitude in Turkey.
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