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’s 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 in the capital, denying access to the thousands of citizens seeking to mourn their dead.
It is an acute example of the Turkish State’s obsession with post-mortem protocol, or rather, the illusion of control – in which citizens are seen as a nuisance, to be endured but not protected. Such scenes have become all too common. And even if this is Turkey’s most deadly terrorist attack – for now - how long will it remain so, as the country’s political elite tempts the very forces that threaten to tear it apart? Increasingly, the standard rationale of the War on Terror no longer applies to such attacks. With no group claiming responsibility, the Turkish public’s ire has started to turn against its Government. Not only for failing to protect its people, but for actively encouraging the very forces that wreak turmoil and harness civil conflict.
Already conspiracy theories abound. But what is undeniable, is that were it not for the polarizing strategies, the hateful rhetoric, and the devastating foreign policy of the current Government, a public gathering of peaceful activists, unionists, and associations would have been just that – a pleasant Saturday morning. Instead, more than a hundred Turkish citizens had their lives brutally cut short. The Government’s position; to feign ignorance and lay the blame on others, has become increasingly untenable. Increasingly, the Turkish public suspects this to be what it is – a tragedy that despite repetition fails to become farce.
