Implications of Istanbul Bombing for Turkey, Erdogan
by Derek Davison
Last week’s suicide bombing in Istanbul’s Sultanahmet district was the fourth bombing on Turkish soil since last June linked to the Islamic State (ISIS or IS). However, unlike the three previous bombings, this attack was not directed at Turkey’s Kurdish minority or supporters of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), which could signal a change in IS’s approach to its operations within Turkey. Instead of trying to stoke further tension in the ongoing Turkish-Kurdish conflict, this attack suggests that IS has begun targeting Turkish interests directly, perhaps in response to recent signals that Ankara may start doing more to control its Syrian border. In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s attack, Turkish artillery shelled alleged IS positions in Syria and Iraq, and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed that they killed 200 IS fighters. But it remains to be seen whether Tuesday’s attack will spur Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan to reevaluate his government’s approach to Syria, IS, and the Kurds more broadly.
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