Bombings in Istanbul

Turkey is Typing....Bomb Blasts in Istanbul'
by Deborah Ann Dilley

While the city of Istanbul enjoyed itself with a Metallica concert, the party
died down with the news of a bombing in the Istanbul neighborhood of Güngören,
leaving at least 17 people dead and over 150 people injured.  Reactions to
the news in the Turkish blogosphere were slow, but between speculation as to
who is behind the attacks and protests against terrorism, one thing has become
quite clear....this hasn't been the first time, and it sure won't be the last.

The Blast

Metroblogging Istanbul writes the following, which appears to be the common
sentiment of Turkish bloggers:

Last night two bombs went off in the area of Gungoren - killing 17 and injuring
 154.  Two RDX bombs went off at 15 minutes interval, the first was a
smaller explosion aimed at getting people to flock towards the sound of the
bomb to see if they could help in case anyone was injured and the second set
off 15 minutes later, with a bigger blast, turning the area into a war zone.
The PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] are obviously the first group that come to
mind in case of terror attacks but lets not forget El Kaide [Al Qaeda], who
attacked the American embassy in Istanbul
not long ago. This isn’t the first and it will unfortunately certainly not be
the last terror attack against Istanbul,
we’re all like sitting ducks provided security measures are not increased.


Erkan's Field Diary adds the following viewpoint:

I first thought it was another bomb without much damage. But then came more
news and helplessness of such brutality. When I was in high school, my uncle
had a shop near the explosion site. I had worked there for a summer. I know the
place. It is really upsetting. The usual suspect is PKK.



There are copious videos on the web of the bombing and its aftermath,
Carpetblogger (an expat blogger) wrote about the nature of bombings,
specifically how bombings are viewed by the public in Turkey:

Most bombings in Turkey are credited -- fairly or unfairly -- to the PKK
(Kurdish Workers' Party). If you read about a bombing in Istanbul that is blamed on the PKK, you can
be pretty sure of a couple of things:

   * It occurred in a distant, obscure Turkish neighborhood. The last
night happened in Gungorne and we still haven't figured out where it is. Based
on the news coverage, it looked downscale and not religious -- none of the
victims were wearing headscarves and some were in tank tops. In fact, it looked
like hundreds of other ordinary Istanbul
neighborhoods stacked with poorly built concrete apartment buildings and small
shops, filled with people out strolling on hot summer night.
   * It probably didn't target foreigners. I don't know why PKK
avoids higher profile targets like Taksim
Square or Istiklal Caddesi where there are tons of
Turks and foreigners, but they generally don't bomb these places.


Playing the Blame Game

As with most terror incidents in Turkey, the finger of blame falls
upon the Kurdish terror group, the PKK.  However, as Kurdish blogger Rasti
points out, the PKK (and related groups) have denied the accusation.  In a
related post, Mideast Youth laments the tendency to blame the Kurds and the
effect that it has on the Kurdish rights movement:

While listening to news reporters wonder on who is responsible, and recounting
the attacks throughout history by the PKK, the first thing I thought of was our
Kurdish Rights campaign. People continue to claim that such a campaign is
pro-terrorism, an absurd and false accusation that implies all Kurds are
terrorists. It’s worth noting that numerous peaceful Kurds have also been
abused as “traitors” to their cause and caught in such attacks by extremists.
Such terrorist attacks do not illegitimize the fight for Kurdish human rights
and Kurds should not be collectively punished for this as their vast majority
are innocent and in fact do not approve of these violent tactics.

Saying No to Terror