Istanbul airport bombing

Written By: - Date published: 8:52 am, June 30th, 2016 - 62 comments
Categories: Syria, war - Tags: , , ,

Another atrocity:

Istanbul Atatürk airport attack: Turkey declares day of mourning

Turkey has declared a day of national mourning after 41 people were killed in suicide attacks on Istanbul’s main airport, the deadliest and most high profile in a string of killings and explosions that have shaken the country this year.

The violence has crippled Turkey’s tourism industry and threatens its ambitions as a global hub, as the violence in neighbouring Syria increasingly spills over into a country that once promoted itself as a stable base in a restive region. …

“As the violence in neighbouring Syria increasingly spills over”.

Condolences to all family and friends of the victims.

62 comments on “Istanbul airport bombing ”

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  1. marty mars 1
    30 June 2016 at 10:00 am

    I hope all those who have been hurt and maimed and those affected by their loved ones being hurt, maimed or killed receive the care and support and love they will need to recover (if that is even possible) from this vicious and terrible crime. Kia kaha innocent people

  2. RedLogix 2
    30 June 2016 at 10:44 am

    Yet another awful consequence in a world that no longer seems to be able to care all that much.

    This is the failure of politics writ in blood. This is why politics matters.

    • Draco T Bastard 2.1
      30 June 2016 at 12:06 pm

      Exactly and this is what we’ll always get when we engage in the politics of the rich. Once people stop trying to live the high life upon the suffering of others then, and only then, will we start to bring peace to the world.

  3. Colonial Viper 3
    30 June 2016 at 11:38 am

    Turkey has been feeding the ISIS tiger in Northern Syria and Northern Iraq for many years as part of Erdogan’s vision of getting rid of Assad, fighting the Kurds.

    Feeding it with weapons, men and deliberately lax border controls. There have been many reports of wounded ISIS fighters retreating back into Turkey controlled territory for medical care as well as supply routes through the Turkish border to ISIS units.

    • marty mars 3.1
      30 June 2016 at 11:51 am

      we had a saying in sales management – “so what?” whenever we wrote something, we would use this statement to test what we had written.

      I ask, so what?, to your statement cv on this thread offering sympathy and condolences to the people suffering.

      • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1
        30 June 2016 at 12:01 pm

        The answer would seem to be:

        Blowback
        Chickens coming home to roost
        Brought it upon themselves
        Making poor decisions

        And probably a few other homilies that I can’t recall ATM.

        • marty mars 3.1.1.1
          30 June 2016 at 12:22 pm

          so what?

          what has any of that to do with the murder of innocents – they deserved it? its there own fault? pray tell WHAT is your answer?

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.1.1.1
            30 June 2016 at 12:36 pm

            Their very own government’s multi-year support of ISIS put their lives in harms way. Maybe you could direct some anger where it is deserved instead of your PC propriety.

            • marty mars 3.1.1.1.1.1
              30 June 2016 at 1:02 pm

              right so it is their own fault – should have ‘changed the government or the government policies’ – fuck why didn’t they think of that.

              feasting on misery – that is what happens when people use the innocent dead and maimed to push their tiny little internet agendas for the purposes of their ego – and if that seems PC to you – tough.

              • Colonial Viper …
                30 June 2016 at 1:28 pm

                The blame game you are trying to play is suitable for self righteous 12 year olds.

                I place responsibility for this incident squarely on the rich, powerful and well connected in Turkey who have been feeding the ISIS tiger with money, weapons and logistics for years.

                That should have been clear to you with every one of my comments, which pointed again and again to the Turkish Govt and its inner circle.

                Or it would have been clear, if you hadn’t kept trying to overlay what I was saying with the own shit flowing around your own head.

          • Draco T Bastard 3.1.1.1.2
            30 June 2016 at 1:05 pm

            http://thestandard.org.nz/istanbul-airport-bombing/#comment-1197075

            Basically, stop the arseholes.

      • Colonial Viper 3.1.2
        30 June 2016 at 12:03 pm

        I won’t be shut down by your sense of PC propriety.

        I will add that Erdogan’s son has been implicated in buying and profiteering from cheap oil from ISIS which has financed ISIS weapons, wages and terrorist training with which to attack and destroy numerous Iraqi, Syrian and Kurdish villages and towns over the last 3 to 4 years.

        • marty mars 3.1.2.1
          30 June 2016 at 12:18 pm

          right so you’ll use a tragic horrific bombing where innocents are murdered to further your own narrative and agenda – shows your morals are deficient imo and so sorry if that is PC to you.

          • Colonial Viper 3.1.2.1.1
            30 June 2016 at 12:33 pm

            I’ve now observed a minute of silence to commemorate the dead and injured in this attack.

            Now back to your comment. Trying to strip the context and background to this terrorist attack is political in of itself.

            Let me spell it out for you. The Turkish Government, or senior people connected to it, have directly put their own citizens and infrastructure in harms way by both actively and passively supporting the vicious terrorist group ISIS for their own political and financial purposes.

            Maybe you could get upset about that instead of your PC propriety.

            • marty mars 3.1.2.1.1.1
              30 June 2016 at 12:52 pm

              I am simply saying that the murdered and maimed are innocent and do not deserve their fate because their governments are scum or not.

              Have you ever just felt sympathy for the murdered and maimed without having to pontificate?

              Not so high on the old EQ are you.

              • Colonial Viper …
                30 June 2016 at 1:25 pm

                I am simply saying that the murdered and maimed are innocent and do not deserve their fate because their governments are scum or not.

                You read into what I said that the victims “deserve their fate.” That’s stuff in your head, not in my head.

            • Karen 3.1.2.1.1.2
              30 June 2016 at 2:01 pm

              “I’ve now observed a minute of silence to commemorate the dead and injured in this attack.”

              You really are a nasty little man CV.

              • RedLogix …
                30 June 2016 at 2:27 pm

                I can see both marty and CV’s take on this, and it’s a shame they’ve not been able to meet in the middle.

                marty is absolutely on the money with his first comment in this thread, for the families, the friends, the people who have to deal hands on with the gore and mess, the innocent people, communities and nation who’ve been hurt by this … then yes I think it goes without saying we offer them nothing but our sympathy and support.

                But equally there are layers of connectivity here. The truth is for most of us, Istanbul is not Paris. We are not so closely connected emotionally. That’s a reflection on us and not the many victims. As I observed above, this is both awful and it is political. And when CV reflects on the why this has happened .. albeit bluntly … he is pointing to root causes that should never remain unexamined.

                There is a place for both conversations, but they don’t sit comfortably together in the same thread.

                • marty mars …
                  30 June 2016 at 2:52 pm

                  fair enough but it doesn’t go without saying – many have actually NOT said it – why? Not French like us – I’m not french yet I can feel empathy for those destroyed by bombs but cv can’t offer a scrap of sympathy/empathy for these Turkish innocents – why? The answer is not that hard btw.

                • Karen …
                  30 June 2016 at 3:08 pm

                  “The truth is for most of us, Istanbul is not Paris.”

                  Speak for yourself. I feel for victims in Turkey just as much as I did for those in Paris or in any other place in the world. Innocent people died or were maimed and they, and their families and friends, have my sympathy. Simple.

                  • RedLogix …
                    30 June 2016 at 3:42 pm

                    I’m happy to let you speak for yourself.

                    But overall, especially judging by the media response, I still think I’m right. If you asked most people they would accept intellectually this bombing is indeed a horror, but I’d suggest most (not all) New Zealanders would not be so upset emotionally.

                    When someone we love, a member of our family, or a friend dies we’re plunged into grief. But the more distant they are the less we feel, and this is perfectly natural. After all about 150,000 people die every day somewhere on the planet, and none of us could function if grief overtook us for each single one.

                    Or as mac1 was saying below, when you have a personal connection to events like this, it feels like a kick in the guts. That’s grief.

                    And without exception, even CV, want to express our sympathy and support to the Turkish nation at this dreadful time. That’s condolences and solidarity with our fellow humans.

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      30 June 2016 at 4:15 pm

                      To be murdered, and to then have the truth about your murder hidden or silenced from the world, is nothing but an unholy desecration.

                    • Peter Swift …
                      30 June 2016 at 4:23 pm

                      “To be murdered, and to then have the truth about your murder hidden or silenced from the world, is nothing but an unholy desecration.”

                      “But apparently now is not the time to point out these things.”

                      “don’t question what or why around these deaths, just display the public behaviour demanded.”

                      And now you’re in overdrive playing the oppressed martyr here. Guilty much?
                      Nobody has said you can’t or shouldn’t post the shit you think happens, just that this thread isn’t the place for it.
                      As a way of minimising your culpability, it’s not working, nor is it a good look.

                      Most people who hadn’t have backed themselves in a corner, like you have on most issues now, would realise this and move on to the next thread or start a new one.

                      Come on, comrade Kitty Kat. Buck it up a bitski and have a break.

          • ropata 3.1.2.1.2
            30 June 2016 at 12:39 pm

            And bombing an airport ISN’T a political statement ??!!

            • marty mars 3.1.2.1.2.1
              30 June 2016 at 1:07 pm

              what has that to do with anything?

              remember pauls little daily

              “try walking in my shoes…” how about imagining the dead and maimed innocent people and their families and friends and co-workers and neighbours – of course it is all political – but that doesn’t mean humans should lose their capacity for empathy and sympathy for innocent victims, does it?

      • Cemetery Jones 3.1.3
        30 June 2016 at 2:36 pm

        Here’s the so what: the day before the bombing, Erdogan finally apologised to Putin and Russia for illegally shooting down an RUAF SU-24 bomber which was conducting legal operations against illegal combatants in Syria. This was a complete flip on his previous refusals to apologise, which was Putin’s pre-condition for dialogue on matters relating to military cooperation or the resumption of trade.

        Russia’s embargo of Turkish exports in the wake of the shootdown and the fall off of Russian tourism has been economically devastating. Erdogan’s overture to Putin is about more than saving the economy, however. It’s an adjustment to a new geopolitical reality, in which Turkey will no longer turn a blind eye to IS/Daesh in the hope of hastening the fall of Syria. By reopening dialogue with Putin, Erdogan has essentially signalled that he is no longer committed to the removal of Assad and the Baath party in a pro-Salafist regime change programme. And this bombing was their response to this clear change of pace.

        Question is, why did Erdogan do this, and why now? Has the Russian economic embargo suddenly bitten deeper? Has the strategic calculus in Syria swung more decisively in recent days? No. Only one thing has changed, and that is the Council of Europe’s response to Brexit. Source below;

        “German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has presented Eastern European EU members with an “ultimatum” for an EU superstate in the aftermath of Brexit, Polish news broadcaster TVP Info reported on Monday.

        The plan, named ‘A strong Europe in a world of instability,’ was signed by Steinmeier and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and presented to the Visegrad group of countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia) at a meeting in Prague on Monday.”

        http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160628/1042075609/poland-france-germany-eu-superstate.html

        Erdogan’s response is akin to that of the Poles: Fuck. That.

        His gravitation towards EU membership is over, rapprochement with Russia and an acceptance of the continued existence of Baathist Syria are his only option, and this terrorist attack is the response from Daesh, who know now that they are proper fucked. Saudi Arabia can send you all the ammo you need, but if it can’t cross the Turkish border, it’s game over.

        • Colonial Viper 3.1.3.1
          30 June 2016 at 4:09 pm

          This.

          But apparently now is not the time to point out these things.

        • GregJ 3.1.3.2
          30 June 2016 at 5:56 pm

          I’m surprised you didn’t also mention the new deal and restored ties with Israel.

          • Cemetery Jones 3.1.3.2.1
            1 July 2016 at 12:10 pm

            This too is important, but that relates more to the Gaza blockade and the death of a Turkish national in the convoy than Syria, and hence relates less to Erdogan’s flip from an increasing orientation towards the EU towards a rapproachment with Russia, which this bombing was clearly intended to punish.

  4. esoteric pineapples 4
    30 June 2016 at 1:33 pm

    I heard on the television news last night that they were blaming Al Queda but in fact Turkey has been working closely with Muslim religious extremists in Syria. In fact it is supplying them with arms etc. The bombing could have been from Kurdish resistance since there is a very ugly war going on in Turkey right now against them, or it could even have been the Kurdish government itself wanting to justify its war on the Kurds.

    • Colonial Viper 4.1
      30 June 2016 at 1:52 pm

      but in fact Turkey has been working closely with Muslim religious extremists in Syria.

      Yep – and Northern Iraq. Turkey has been supporting ISIS/Al Qaeda/Al Nusra/Al Sham (what Moscow calls the alphabet soup of Islamic terrorists) to attack Kurds along the Turkish border.

  5. Peter Swift 5
    30 June 2016 at 2:01 pm

    Very distasteful how a condolence post for a terrible atrocity has been used in such a way as to promote political agenda.
    Please, cv, show some class, and leave the propaganda for other threads.

    • Colonial Viper 5.1
      30 June 2016 at 2:12 pm

      Hopefully people will be informed as to the context of these terrorist attacks, and understand how Turkey has been supporting ISIS in both Iraq and Syria.

      While the west + Turkey has been busy trying to figure out how to use ISIS to topple Assad, they really should have been helping Russia bomb the &*^%$^ out of ISIS.

  6. Peter Swift 6
    30 June 2016 at 2:18 pm

    I know from the rules it’s not permitted to tell authors what to write, but remembering this is a condolence topic you’ve rail roaded in to the buffers of politics central, perhaps you should resist the urge to crap all over this thread and write your own ‘Airport bombing. Why it’s the victims own fault’.

    Karen above at 3.1.2.1.1.2 nailed it.

    Worst post hi jack, ever.
    Shame.

    • te reo putake 6.1
      30 June 2016 at 3:14 pm

      There’s no issue disagreeing with an author’s comments on posts they haven’t written, Peter. In that situation, they’re really just a commenter like any other. Being an author is not a shield for arseholes.

      In this instance, I don’t think there’s much that can be said that hasn’t been touched on in the past. CV’s a self absorbed misanthrope with empathy for no one, so his views on this tragedy shouldn’t be a surprise to any regular reader.

      • Colonial Viper 6.1.2
        30 June 2016 at 3:31 pm

        There is a simple truth here: Turkey has been growing ISIS to facilitate the destruction of Kurdish, Iraqi and Syrian towns all along its borders for years, and its leadership class have been profiting, and politically benefiting from the resulting death and destruction.

        I’m not interested in your approvals of public piety; I’m only interested in letting people know what the context and background to this terrorist attack is.

      • Peter Swift 6.1.3
        30 June 2016 at 3:56 pm

        Thanks for the clarification, trp, and definitely agreed, very much so.

        • In Vino 6.1.3.1
          30 June 2016 at 5:11 pm

          It seems to me that CV blamed the Turkish Govt.’s policies, not the innocent victims. And I found Cemetery Jones’ post the most interesting I have read for a good while. Sorry if that does not please what seems a rather dogmatic majority. I share the horror at what has been inflicted upon innocent people.

      • One Anonymous Bloke 6.1.4
        30 June 2016 at 7:40 pm

        What TRP said.

  7. mac1 7
    30 June 2016 at 2:25 pm

    My condolences, too.

    I have in my household a young Turk, recently emigrated here. I sat with him as we watched the news of the bombing. It brought it literally home the level of violence, hatred and fear. I understand why he left. My folks did similarly in their time of emigration.

    Meanwhile, another 70 million Turks share their country with millions of refugees. My man has come to a peaceful new life, which can’t be said of those refugees or the Turks themselves.

    We can do more. Allow more immigration. Work to reduce the violence in our world. Acknowledge that poverty and war co-exist very well. Reducing one reduces the other. Here and overseas.

    It would not be difficult to see Kiwis overseas in the future watching similar news events happening in their home land and requiring others’ condolences.

  8. Bill 8
    30 June 2016 at 3:14 pm

    Tuppence worth on the charges being made with regards politicising a post that isn’t political. – The cut and paste that comprises the post itself is loaded with political angles and propaganda. And shit doesn’t happen in a vacuum.

    The violence has crippled Turkey’s tourism industry… (An odd angle to highlight. And saying what? It’s bad because holiday options are shrinking and don’t forget it was at an airport Mr and Mrs Potential Tourist?!)

    …and threatens its ambitions as a global hub, (we meant to take that as meaning some kind of neutral or benign hub? Something like a tourist hub?)

    as the violence in neighbouring Syria increasingly spills over into a country that once promoted itself as a stable base (The violence in Syria has been very much aided and abetted by the Turkish government/regime so, you know, I’m thinking that England probably presented itself as a stable base in relation to N. Ireland…)

    …in a restive region. (Syria was “a stable base in a restive region” too, until lately. Both Turkey and Syria, have always been one of those places, that regardless of how “stable” they may be from a western tourist/business person’s perspective, no-one ever want to land in shit with the authorities.)

    As for people getting killed by bombs? It’s bad shit – really bad shit. But closing eyes and ears to underlying causes and current realities, does less than nothing in terms of diminishing the chances of there being a next time, and a time after that, and another and….

    It’s not incongruent to feel a sense of loss or sadness for the dead while simultaneously feeling cold anger for those who create and maintain the circumstances that lead to their deaths.

    • marty mars 8.1
      30 June 2016 at 3:21 pm

      sure bill I remember that when some poor bastards in the uk get blown apart – ffs I fucken give up

      • Bill 8.1.1
        30 June 2016 at 3:39 pm

        Well…lets take Lockerbie. There were emotions enough around that one…and cold hard fucking analysis around the whos and the whys of it all at the same time. Many families are still seeking answers that stack up by the way.

        Or lets take another example – a non-terrorist one. Should the dead at Hillsborough simply have been mourned and no questions asked, no answers demanded?

        Or multiple IRA bombings. Are you suggesting that no-one should have questioned, among other things, British policies in Northern Ireland? That the dead should simply have been mourned and that should have been an end to it?

        What’s with the either/or approach, that seems to be suggesting that any seeking of understanding about the environment that produces this kind of shit is incongruous with sympathy?

        • marty mars 8.1.1.1
          30 June 2016 at 3:50 pm

          bullshit – there is a place to offer condolences and plenty of other spaces to offer analysis – some want to try to prove how smart they are, how insightful, how up with the play and onto it they are and they have used a thread offering condolences to the dead and injured for their own sick point scoring and when asked why they say the government of those people was so bad they fucken got pay back, they deserved it. And all of that without even a basic – oh how sad that so many people are hurt. THAT is unhinged and the reason the world is so fucked up. Basic human decency is thrown away to achieve some tiny hit on a tiny post on a tiny site at the bottom of the world.

          as I say I will throw these bullshit reasons back at you and I am sure it won’t be long before I do because sad sick fuckers are everywhere

          • Bill 8.1.1.1.1
            30 June 2016 at 4:19 pm

            I’ve read the comments Marty – and one comment could be interpreted as suggesting that those who got caught up in the bombing ‘deserved it’. I know that’s what you’ve been claiming CV has said, but there’s nothing even close to that sentiment in any of his comments.

            Draco T Bastard did say “they brought it upon themselves” as part of a shopping list response to one of your comments, and that could be read as referring to the victims, but I don’t think it’s stretching any ‘benefit of doubt’ to suggest it was a clumsy reference to the Turkish state and not the actual victims.

            Or maybe I afford DtB too much in the way of humanity and decency?

            As an aside – I noticed that esoteric pineapples, for one, was unaware of the wider circumstances until (if I’m reading their comment correctly) they tuned into the news last night.

            Again, I’m asking. What’s wrong with a better informed empathy? (Clumsily written – empathy and understanding) I’d have thought it essential if we’re to move beyond “sad but inevitable” mind sets or the too often voiced sentiment that runs along the lines of “they” have always been like that…it’s always been like that “over there” etc.

            People died. They died as a consequence of others acting in very specific ways to achieve specific goals and of those others not giving a flying fuck about them…they are (by the standards of those others) mere collateral damage and not much of anything in the scheme of things. Of course, they’ll happily turn around and announce a ‘day of mourning’ as though nothing has anything to do with them. There’s a word for that…and a whole host of emotions that may bubble up for us on the back of recognising that reality of theirs.

            People died. Asking why is, perhaps, a beginning to putting an end to it. Refusing to ask why, means it will absolutely go on and on and on… empowered people having license to seek objectives that need have no place for an accounting of the human cost involved.

    • Colonial Viper 8.2
      30 June 2016 at 3:33 pm

      Bill – don’t question what or why around these deaths, just display the public behaviour demanded.

  9. McFlock 9
    30 June 2016 at 4:21 pm

    Another piece of global shittiness.

    Sigh.

  10. Gristle 10
    30 June 2016 at 5:59 pm

    Is the MSM just a little bit racist?

    I haven’t seen any calls for tourists to stop going to the USA on the basis of the mass killings that are occurring every second day.

    It seems to easy to say don’t go to some bender dishing out warnings because third world bombings, but first world assault rifles, nah don’t worry about them.

  11. GregJ 11
    30 June 2016 at 6:24 pm

    I was in Istanbul just over 6 weeks ago. Fortunately my Turkish hosts, 2 young Turkish business partners, Omer & Suraj, their families and friends were not hurt in the attack. They are shocked by what happened although they have had to live with attacks in Istanbul before so in one sense they are always prepared for the worst. I, of course traveled through Ataturk so the connection to it is real in my mind – many NZs probably have on their way to Gallipoli or other Turkish destinations.

    Da’ish haven’t claimed responsibility for the attack although it fits their MO. I suspect they probably won’t either as they seem to prefer not to confirm attacks in Turkey – allowing the Kurds to bear some of the weight and suspicion of the Turkish Govt response.

    The timing is probably deliberate – coming up to the end of Ramadan and with the approach to Eid al-Fitr when many Arabs & Muslims will be traveling. Istanbul is a popular destination for Gulf Arabs as it is a European style city which they can travel to much more easily than the rest of Europe.

    A sad & tragic event for the families of those killed and injured, bad for a city that is cosmopolitan, open, friendly & vibrant and difficult for those in Istanbul and Turkey who simultaneously will be critical & hold their own Government responsible but also look to them for a response.

    • McFlock 11.1
      30 June 2016 at 6:36 pm

      It’s weird the little things that bring one event home more than others.

      Like with the Paris attack, my immediate response was “but — EoD is a really good band…. why them?” Friend of mine was similar, went to EoD whenever they were in the area, and basically those gigs were like you knew the people who were at any particular gig.

      But that’s what the dickheads want – attacks on public areas affect everyone.

      • GregJ 11.1.1
        30 June 2016 at 7:20 pm

        The problem is making the personal relatable to the political. I can abhor the violence, death & destruction caused by this attack while also seeing how the policies and actions of a government(s) can contribute to it. It’s important to remember that although governments (sometimes) are manifestations of the political will of a society/country as made up by individuals that those individuals may hold widely differing views, attitudes and feelings than that of “their” government. I think it is possible to lament the attacks while holding those in power to account for them. Personally I am saddened, politically I am angry. I want to stand collectively with my Turkish friends and comrades while condemning a Turkish government I find distasteful, and loathing all that Da’ish stand for and perpetuate.

        • McFlock 11.1.1.1
          30 June 2016 at 7:33 pm

          yeah.

          tbh, though, some people seem to be more eager to ascribe blame according to their lurid preconceptions than they are to actually thinking about how people might have actually been affected by any particular tragedy.

          Which just depresses me even more.

          Apparently massive cudos should go to a security guard, though. In these situations sometimes people do incredibly noble acts, which sort of cheers me up.

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