Struggle for humanity and peace

Feb. 17, 2016: A suicide bomb attack targeted a convoy of military service vehicles belonging to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in Ankara. All indicators pointed to the PKK as the perpetrator of the attack that claimed 28 lives.

March, 13, 2016: Another PKK attack killed 37 people through the explosion of a bomb-laden vehicle.

June 28, 2016: Daesh carried out a suicide bomb attack, killing 45 people at Istanbul Atatürk International Airport.

Aug. 20, 2016: Daesh attacked a street wedding party in Gaziantep and claimed 30 lives.

These are the first examples springing to mind. Moreover, dozens of other attacks took place in 2016, including the one that killed 12 people in Istanbul's Vezneciler district in June; the one that killed four others in Mardin's Midyat district and the one that led to the death of 16 people in Diyarbakır's Sur district in May. The majority of victims were either policemen or soldiers. There were also many civilians. Two terrorist organizations, the PKK and Daesh, were behind all these attacks.

All signs of the attack which hit the heart of Istanbul on Saturday evening point to the PKK as the perpetrator. Perhaps, you are reading this piece in distant places and do not know Istanbul. Let me tell you so that you can envisage. Taksim and Beşiktaş are the central districts of Istanbul – a megacity having 15 million in population. There is a large football stadium located between these districts and a main arterial road connection the coastal road, which surrounds the stadium, to the July 15 Martyrs Bridge. These routes have very busy traffic all the time and are extremely crowded in weekend evenings and especially if there is a football match at the stadium. The huge bomb exploded a few hours after a football match on such a day. At that time, I was appearing on the NTV news channel to comment on the constitutional amendment package which was prepared by the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) with consensus. Turkey was discussing a positive agenda after a long time. We were talking about an amendment which would shape our future, not about the dollar crisis or a calamitous detail of the July 15 coup attempt. Suddenly, I began receiving messages from around Istanbul in the middle of broadcasting. All of them were asking the same thing, what was happening, saying that they were shaken with a tremendous noise in their homes in districts close to Beşiktaş, like Mecidiyeköy and Fulya, and even distant districts like Çengelköy, on the Asian side.

In short, the explosion was so loud that it could be heard by almost all parts of a big city like Istanbul. After a while, the sad truth began surfacing. They once again hit our heart while Turkey was fighting the PKK in the southeast on the one hand and Daesh in Syria on the other.

The PKK's open target was the police. Unfortunately, this time a total of 30 policemen, most of who were young and new graduates, and seven civilians who were passing by, lost their lives this time. It appears that policemen who noticed the suicide bomber intervened and prevented much greater losses at the cost of their lives.

For many years, Europe has turned a blind eye to the PKK. Moreover, it gives the red carpet treatment to PKK representatives, protects its media outlets and accuses Turkey. Dozens of lives have been lost, and are still being lost, for all the world to see. What was the fault of the 30 young policemen who were on duty in front of the stadium on Saturday evening? I searched the appearance of all of them; they were all mobile police forces aged 22-23. Well, what about civilians? One of them was a 19-year-old medical student from Ankara. He was in Istanbul to spend the weekend and was torn to pieces as he was passing by the stadium in a taxi during the attack. Europe, are you defending the rights of those who tore this young man into pieces as you clamor about human rights? Do you not think that victims have the right to live? 

Turkey feels very lonely. Europe's weak and implicit condemnation is raising frustration here. I call on prudent Western leaders and politicians: See the rightful sentimentality in Turkey and the hypocrisy toward us. This is a struggle for humanity and peace. Side with us in this struggle.