The injured wait for help from survivors after the bomb blast in Ankara peace rally. Demotix\/Recep Yilmaz. All rights reserved. One
\nday after twin blasts tore through Ankara\u2019s central station area, thousands of
\nprotestors gathered near the site of the massacre. Yet despite the pleas of the
\ncrowds, a belated security presence has established itself in the capital, denying
\naccess to the thousands of citizens seeking to mourn their dead. <\/i><\/p>\n
It is
\nan acute example of the Turkish State\u2019s obsession with post-mortem protocol, or
\nrather, the illusion of control \u2013 in which citizens are seen as a nuisance, to
\nbe endured but not protected. Such scenes have become all too common. And even
\nif this is Turkey\u2019s most deadly terrorist attack \u2013 for now – how long will it
\nremain so, as the country\u2019s political elite tempts the very forces that
\nthreaten to tear it apart? Increasingly, the standard rationale of the War on
\nTerror no longer applies to such attacks. With no group claiming responsibility,
\nthe Turkish public\u2019s ire has started to turn against its Government. Not only
\nfor failing to protect its people, but for actively encouraging the very forces
\nthat wreak turmoil and harness civil conflict.<\/p>\n
Already
\nconspiracy theories abound. But what is undeniable, is that were it not for the
\npolarizing strategies, the hateful rhetoric, and the devastating foreign policy
\nof the current Government, a public gathering of peaceful activists, unionists,
\nand associations would have been just that \u2013 a pleasant Saturday morning.
\nInstead, more than a hundred Turkish citizens had their lives brutally cut
\nshort. The Government\u2019s position; to feign ignorance and lay the blame on
\nothers, has become increasingly untenable. Increasingly, the Turkish public
\nsuspects this to be what it is \u2013 a tragedy that despite repetition fails to
\nbecome farce. <\/p>\n
Despite
\nthe shock of Saturday\u2019s massacre, it was an event simultaneously foreseen by
\nmany, yet prevented by none. And with less than three weeks to go until the
\nelections, the attacks may herald a striking shift in public attitudes. Instead
\nof blaming foreign fighters already most of the public outcry has been directed
\nagainst the Turkish Government. Not only for failing to protect its citizens,
\nbut for actively courting disaster in the pursuit of political ambitions and
\npetty games. Little wonder, then, that the Government\u2019s immediate response was
\nto enforce a media ban throughout Turkey, rather than attending to the needs of
\nits beleaguered citizens. <\/p>\n
And
\nwhile simultaneously journalists from across the media spectrum were either
\nfacing prosecution or imprisonment, PM Ahmet Davuto\u011flu announced on live television that the attacks could
\nbe either attributed to ISIS, the PKK, the DHKP-C, and the MLKP. With such a
\nsuicide squad of assorted domestic villains, the Prime Minister\u2019s policy of \u2018zero
\nproblems with neighbours\u2019 rings hollow. Instead, it has manifested itself
\nparadoxically in a deadly resurgence of Turkey\u2019s domestic issues, reminiscent only
\nof the darkest days of civil conflict endured by Turks during the 1990s. <\/p>\n
Only
\ntwo things appear certain. There will be three days of mourning, followed by
\nthree weeks of turmoil. Only then, will the Turkish public be allowed to cast
\nits vote, deciding once and for all whether or not the AKP has recaptured its
\ncherished political majority. <\/p>\n
Already
\nthe costs of political uncertainty have been too high, and nothing indicates
\nthat the upcoming vote will resolve the impasse of having to form a coalition
\nGovernment. Regardless of the outcome, the tragic loss of so many lives will
\ncontinue to haunt the country. Without a doubt, the anger and sadness will
\noutlast the next three weeks, and the human cost of the political turmoil will
\nremain imprinted on Turkey\u2019s collective consciousness, no matter what the
\nelection results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The injured wait for help from survivors after the bomb blast in Ankara peace rally. Demotix\/Recep Yilmaz. All rights reserved. One day after twin blasts tore through Ankara\u2019s central station area, thousands of protestors gathered near the site of the massacre. Yet despite the pleas of the crowds, a belated security presence has established itself…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}