NATO must support Turkey’s fight against IS

A gunman opened fire at a crowded nightclub in Istanbul during New Year celebrations. The assailant, armed with long-barrelled weapon and wearing Santa Claus costume, first killed a cop and a civilian outside the club. Then the attacker rained bullets mercilessly on innocent people partying inside the club. It left 39 people dead. The man is still on the run and efforts to find the terrorist are continuing.
More than 700 people were celebrating inside the club that is also frequented by famous locals, including singers, actors and sports stars. Several shocked revellers fled the scene and jumped into the Bosporus in a bid to save themselves from falling victim to the hail of bullets.
Total 38 of the 39 dead have been identified. 11 of them were Turkish nationals, and one was a Turkish-Belgian dual citizen. Seven victims were from Saudi Arabia; three each were from Lebanon and Iraq; two each were from Tunisia, India, Morocco and Jordan. Kuwait, Canada, Israel, Syria and Russia each lost one citizen.
Turkey has witnessed a series of deadly attacks in 2016 carried out by the IS group or Kurdish militants, killing more than 180 people.
The massacre was the latest in a string of assaults that have multiplied as Turkey steps up its war against IS and Kurdish militants. More than 1,400 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in Turkey since June, 2015, when the ruling party was temporarily stripped of its majority in parliament before winning a repeat election five months later. The interim saw an explosion in violence that started with attacks by Kurdish and extremist militants in the southeast, and which has since spread.
The carnage took place despite extensive security measures. In Istanbul, 17,000 police officers were put on duty, some camouflaged as Santa Claus and others as street vendors.
The IS group on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack. The IS-linked Aamaq News Agency said the attack was carried by a heroic soldier of the caliphate.
Turkish authorities also believed the IS group was behind the attack and that the gunman, who is still at large, comes from a Central Asian nation and is likely to be either from Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan.
Police had also established similarities with the high-casualty suicide bomb and gun attack at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport in June and was investigating whether the same IS cell could have carried out both attacks.
The violence has shifted Turkey’s alliances in the region, pushing it into deeper cooperation with Russia while creating a split with the United States, which supports Kurdish forces in Syria that Turkey considers terrorists. On December 19, Russia’s ambassador to Turkey, Andrey Karlov, was assassinated in Ankara by a Turkish police officer who shouted slogans also related to Syria’s civil war.
Turkey is aware that the attacks targeting country by various terrorist organizations are not independent from what is happening in the region. Ankara has to destroy these threats and attacks at their origin.
Turkey has already suffered more than its share of terror attacks. Now there is need of greater cooperation among regional players to deal with the scourge of terrorism. NATO must extend full support to Ankara in its fight against IS and Kurdish extremists both inside and outside its boundaries.
Turkey is undoubtedly a barrier between terror organisations and the rest of world, especially Europe. And if Ankara fails in its fight against extremists, and if this barrier collapses, it will do world no good.