Turkey and the Islamic State appear to be headed toward outright war

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ISTANBUL — A brazen assault by three suicide bombers on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport has set the stage for a more violent conflict between Turkey and the Islamic State, a development that would deepen Turkish involvement in the Syrian civil war.

There has been no claim of responsibility for Tuesday’s carnage, but Turkish officials blamed the Sunni extremists for the attack, which killed 41 people and injured at least 239.

The raid marked the fifth bombing attack in Istanbul this year and struck the country’s most important transportation hub. Although Kurdish militants also have recently attacked targets in Istanbul, analysts said the airport operation bore all the hallmarks of the Islamic State.

On Wednesday, a senior Turkish official gave a timeline of the attack: First, a militant detonated explosives in the arrivals area on the ground floor of the international terminal. A second attacker exploded a bomb minutes later in the departures area upstairs. Finally, a third bomber detonated explosives in the parking area amid the chaos as people fled to escape the attacks inside.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/turkey-urges-world-to-stand-firm-against-terrorism-after-airport-carnage/2016/06/29/6457228c-3d70-11e6-9e16-4cf01a41decb_story.html

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1. Turkey and Bangladesh are poles apart on the terror map

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Punishing strategy

The IS is pursuing a strategy toward Turkey that aims at punishing it for being part of the US-led coalition. Although Turkey had joined the US-led anti-IS coalition in September 2014, it maintained an ambivalent posture, avoiding confrontation and tacitly (or covertly) looking away from the cross-border flow of fighters and supplies into Syria.

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But IS upset the apple cart by its horrific double suicide bombing in October 2015 when it sensed that Ankara was deepening its engagement with the US-led coalition (in response to the emergent axis between the US and Syrian Kurds, and given the specter of a contiguous Kurdish autonomous zone emerging in northern Syria with Washington’s acquiescence.)

Meanwhile, in the face of the relentless pressure from Russia (in a geopolitical strategy, partly at least, to weaken the southern flank of NATO), Turkey moved even closer to the US-led coalition, seeking protection, whereas, Washington too began mounting pressure on Ankara to close the Turkish-Syrian border and disrupt the IS’ key supply routes.

Unsurprisingly, Turkey’s tight rope walk became untenable, and the IS has retaliated. The Istanbul attack underscores its capacity to use its robust networks inside Turkey to launch spectacular attacks aimed at weakening the Turkish state and ultimately threatening the coherence of the US-led coalition that critically depends on Turkish military bases for conducting operations in both Iraq and Syria.

http://atimes.com/2016/07/turkey-and-bangladesh-are-poles-apart-on-the-terror-map/