On Saturday, the Ankara bombing covered the Turkish capital's Sıhhiye Square in blood. The pain appears and will not go away. Four days ago, 97 Turkish citizens lost their lives as two suicide bombers blew themselves up in front of Ankara's main train station. Having targeted civilians in Reyhanlı, Diyarbakır and Suruç, terrorists dealt a heavy blow to the country as if to signal that no public area was safe anymore. The attack sent shockwaves throughout the country, yet the people of Turkey have not been able to unite on anything except the fact that Saturday's terrorist attack was the worst tragedy in the Republic's history. Immediately after the assault, various groups appeared in front of TV cameras to speculate about the identity of the perpetrators and their intentions. At this point, each group has adopted a completely predictable line with regard to terrorist attacks. While the government described the deadly blast as an attack against Turkish democracy and the entire country, opposition figures claimed the authorities had somehow facilitated the assault in order to spread chaos and postpone the Nov. 1 parliamentary elections.
Having lost any sense of right and wrong, certain people opt to exploit any tragedy to target the government instead of analyzing the complex developments in Syria and the inner workings of terrorist networks. According to them, each problem is rooted in a single organization - the Justice and Development Party (AK Party). In the face of this defamation campaign, the people of Turkey must keep in mind that this is exactly what terrorists hope to achieve by killing innocent civilians. Politicians who blame each other over terrorism only serve terrorists' interests.
Clearly, public authorities are responsible for keeping the people safe and they will have to answer for their negligence. At this point, it is not enough to call for unity and solidarity after terrorist attacks. Instead, Turkey must take necessary measures to make sure that the security forces are able to address regional challenges. We must, for instance, start preparing for the potential outcomes of Russia's growing military presence across Turkey's southern border in Syria. The opposition parties, likewise, must be patient and responsible in their pursuit of accountability. After the Ankara bombing, which threatens an entire society's well-being, there is no room for hate speech. Nor can politicians afford to address terrorism with violence. Following the attack, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş, among others, took an extremely irresponsible step by claiming that "the government has attacked the people" to push for a violent response from ordinary citizens. Anger, it would appear, is capable of blurring the line between politics and violence. By capitalizing on the people's pain and anger, Demirtaş ran the risk of yet another politician reminding the public about PKK commander Murat Karayılan's recent threats about "the Battalion of Immortals taking action in metropolitan areas." Such a response, no doubt, could have led to more bloodshed. Neither Demirtaş nor any other opposition figure, to be sure, stands to gain anything by discrediting the country's political institutions.
Turkey's children do not deserve to die in terrorist attacks. Nor does anyone, however, have a right to use hate speech in an attempt to score cheap political points. The terrorists who perpetrated the Ankara bombing sought to make the case that the authorities were no longer capable of running the country. By killing innocent civilians, they aimed to spread the essentialist view that Turkey cannot address pressing problems. Ultimately, they wanted to perpetuate the turbulence that the country has been experiencing since 2013 to shake people's confidence in themselves and their country. We have hope for the future nonetheless, because Turkey has made significant progress over the years and has what it takes to overcome the current challenges.
[Daily Sabah, October 14, 2015]
