This Week
?arks Question Ties
After bombings, there's unease over country's ties
with West and Israel.
help build a security belt around
Turkey's
border."
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Indeed, an Al Qaida-linked group that
claimed responsibility for the attacks
Istanbul
issued a statement telling Turkey it has
n the days after the second set of
suicide bombings that hit Istanbul to choose "peace or America."
'As for you, Turkey, isn't it time you
in the span of less than a week, a
left
the Crusader army and returned to
thick fog often enveloped the city
the
Islamic
nation?" the statement from
as the chilly waters of the Bosphorus
the
Abu
Hafs
al-Masri Brigades said.
cooled unseasonably warm air.
"Isn't it time you withdrew your army
The fog was an almost painfully fit-
from Afghanistan, stopped all ties with
ting symbol for the confusion that has
the Zionist entity, stopped providing
gripped Turkey following the attacks on
America
with soldiers for Iraq, left the
Nov. 15 and Nov. 20.
Crusader
Atlantic alliance?"
With officials here saying that the four
To
date,
the government's answer
suicide bombers were Turkish radical
appears
to
be a resounding no.
Islamists, many Turks are struggling to
One of its strategies for dealing with
understand how four of their own could
the new terrorist threat is to strengthen
perpetrate attacks that killed nearly 60
cooperation with Israel.
people and injured several hundred.
"The government is taking this very
The government, meanwhile, is being
seriously
and will take all necessary
forced to confront the fact that local
measures.
It will look at the whole thing
Islamists with ties to international terror
from
the
beginning
and cooperate with
groups may have managed to create a
Israel
on
this,
which
is already happen-
base in Turkey and, in the process, put
ing," said Sami Kohen, a veteran politi-
the country on the front line of the war
cal analyst and columnist with the
on terrorism.
Turkish
daily newspaper Milliyet.
"I think Turkey has two choices," said
Ephraim
Inbar, director of the Begin-
Faik Bulut, an expert on Islamic funda-
Sadat
Center
for Strategic Studies at
mentalist groups in Turkey.
Israel's
Bar-Ilan
University, said the
"To choose a policy closer to the U.S.
cooperation with Israel isn't new but
and Israel, which will make Turkey an
may now become more visible.
attraction for more terror attacks, or to
"Cooperation has been very close in
chose to cooperate with local countries
terms
of intelligence and fighting terror,"
that want stability in the region who can
Inbar said.
YIGAL SCHLEIFER
I
For example, Israel helped Turkey
with intelligence when it was fighting
the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party
and was instrumental in helping Turkey
capture the group's leader, Abdullah
Ocalan, in 1999.
"The relations between Israel and
Turkey are very close and it's hard to get
closer," Inbar said. Following the
Istanbul attacks, "there's been a demon-
stration that the common interests are
still strong."
Still, the bombings have raised ques-
tions in Turkey about the country's rela-
tions with Israel and with the West, par-
ticularly the United States, and whether
those relations have made Turkey more
of a target.
Terrorists Desire Chaos
Not far from the Neve Shalom syna-
gogue, one of two synagogues bombed
on Nov. 15, the manager of an electric
supply shop said- the attack could be
linked to Israeli treatment of the
Palestinians.
"Israel is doing all these terrible things
to the Palestinians over there, and the
revenge is being taken out on our citi-
zens," said Atakan Senel, 36.
Boaz Ganor, director of the
International Policy Institute for
Counterterrorism in Israel, said the
groups behind the bombs hoped to
encourage such reactions.
"We're not talking about a one-time
event. After this, people will criticize the
connection to Israel, the move towards
the European Union, the relationship
with the United States. It's not an
overnight process, but one that contin-
ues," Ganor said.
"Their objective is to create chaos, to
strike at the stability of the government
and to enable radical Islam to take
advantage of that scenario," he said.
So far, Turks have united in condem-
nation of the attacks, but experts warn
that the bombings present some domes-
tic dangers.
Turkey currently is led by the Justice
and Development Party, a new party
that traces its roots to the country's
political Islam movement. Though
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and the party leadership has distanced
itself from the party's Islamist past,
Turkey's secular establishment remains
suspicious of it.
"The prime minister needs to make a
very strong statement to not let these
attacks polarize the secular-Islamic
divide," said Cengiz Candar, a leading
political analyst in Turkey. "These
attacks, inherently and implicitly, can
threaten the social fabric of Turkey."
After the Nov. 20 attacks, which
struck the British Consulate and the
Turkish headquarters of HSBC bank,
Erdogan lashed out at the bombers and
their supporters.
"Those who shed blood and killed
innocents in these holy days will have to
account for themselves in both worlds
and will be doomed till eternity," he
said.
But Candar said Erdogan has to draw
a clear line between his perception of an
Islam that is compatible with democracy
and the extremism that appears to be
behind the Istanbul bombings.
"He must do this to justify the firm
action that he will have to take," Candar
said. "This cannot only be defeated in
Turkey through security measures. There
has to be a strong ideological basis to it."
Children
of
Adam
Muslims, Jews, Christians gather to remember Turkish victims.
DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
The Muslim Unity Center in Bloomfield
Hills was the site of unity and hope as
about 65 Muslims, Christians and Jews
gathered to memorialize the victims of
the terrorist bombings in Turkey that
took 57 lives and injured 750 persons just
the week before.
The Turkish American Cultural
Association of Michigan (TACAM) spon-
sored the Nov. 23 program. Speeches and
prayers came from representatives of the
11/28
2003
18
Unity Center, American Jewish
Committee, the National Conference of
Community and Justice (NCCJ) and
Nicholas Stasevich, honorary consul gen-
eral of Great Britain.
Of particular note were the messages
delivered by TACAM's President Birol
Halacoglu and Imam Syed Salman of the
Unity Center.
As was the case at the memorial held at
the Max M. Fisher Federation Building
tin Bloomfield Township he previous
week, TACAM leadership celebrated the
strong relations between Turkey and
Israel .
The recent attacks "will only unify and
intensify our efforts against terrorism,"
said Halacoglu. "We are confident the
friendship will only get stronger and will
last forever."
At both memorials, TACAM leadership
were the only representatives to mention
Israel by name and endorse its fight
against terrorism.
Imam Salman's talk showed why the
Unity Center continues to be a leader
among mosques in condemning all ter-
rorism. He began by welcoming every-
one to the mosque to "come together as
the children of Adam."
"What happened in Turkey is a crimi-
nal act according to the teaching of all th
prophets of God," he said, noting that
civilians are not to be attacked.
He cited former Egyptian President
Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin as "very noble people
[who] were killed because they stretched
their hands for peace."
"We pray for all the victims of the ter-
rorist acts around the world, if they are
Muslims or not Muslims," he said, and
called for people to "deal with each othe
in a gentle and respectful way" ❑