Attack in Turkey

Ever since the twin civil wars broke out in neighbouring Syria and Iraq, Turkey has been a magnet for attacks from the Islamic State. Add to that the attacks by indigenous Kurdish separatists and Turkey has become one of the most dangerous countries in the world. The Erdogan government has been accused by the West of tolerating, or even supporting, IS – but the militant group has carried out frequent attacks there. The latest attack, which the Turkish government has also attributed to IS, took place at a Kurdish wedding in the city of Gaziantep, which is near the Syrian border. More than 50 people have been killed in the suicide bombing. Most horrifyingly, it is claimed it was carried out by a child of around 12 years. If true this points to the inhumanity of the war being waged by IS and militant groups like it. Just this year alone, IS has been blamed for attacks near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, a shopping boulevard popular with tourists and the international airport. Turkey had long been understood to have turned a blind eye to violent extremists crossing its territory to join the fight against Bashar al-Assad in Syria and even given the US use of its Incirlik airbase. Now, it has offered Russia use of that same airbase to launch strikes against IS if needed. By virtue of its proximity to Syria, Turkey has been put in a difficult position where every Western country meddling in Syria finds that it needs its help. This has undoubtedly led to an increase in attacks on Turkey.

The use of children as suicide bombers has also become sadly routine. On the very day of the Turkish bombing, a child of between 12 and 14 years of age who was about to carry out an attack for IS in Iraq was caught by security officials. According to Unicef, one in five suicide bombings carried out by Boko Haram in countries like Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad involve girl suicide bombers who have been drugged. IS has routinely used child suicide bombers in Syria. Apart from the sheer inhumanity of sending children on suicide missions, such attacks become harder to prevent because of the natural human instinct to assume children possess no security threat. Now, Turkey has to add this new worry to its long list of problems. Erdogan’s reset with Russia after the failed coup against him means that IS will be even more determined to attack Turkey. But Turkey cannot stop infiltration by militants without cutting access to the millions of refugees who need to escape Syria and Iraq. The country has certainly become a frontline state in this war.