Spotlight: Turks struggle to live with growing terrorism

Amid uneasiness and wariness among Turks and foreigners alike, a bustling street in Istanbul came under a suicide bombing attack on Saturday in the latest of a string of deadly assaults that have hit the country over the past few months, stretching the nerves of a population struggling to live with a growing wave of terror acts.

The attack in Istiklal Street, or Independence Avenue, a pedestrian street popular among both the locals and tourists, left five dead including the attacker and 36 others injured, among them 13 foreigners from five countries.

It came only one week after a car laden with explosives hit central Ankara, Turkey's capital, claiming 37 lives.

Turkish security forces have since been inundated with calls over suspicious activities in big cities each day. The fear of impending terror attacks, meanwhile, has prompted many to turn to social media for more information.

The warnings issued by Germany and the United States on Thursday urging their citizens to shun public places in Turkey have fueled a wave of conspiracy theories.

"Yes I'm very much afraid," Turkish lawyer Filiz Kutluas told Xinhua, as she was entering a metro station. "I'm extremely worried, but we have to live as if everything is normal."

Serap Tekeli, a woman from Turkey's western town of Denizli, came to Istanbul to evaluate job opportunities and was mindful of fear prevailing here.

"I'm scared in every step I take," she said. "I'm jumpy anywhere I go, in the metro, in the shopping malls, in the crowds."

The deadliest attack that has ever hit Turkey took place in Ankara in October last year, in which 103 people were killed in twin suicide bombings.

Adding to the sense of worsening security in the country is the ongoing fighting between the security forces and militants with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey, where the group is seeking autonomy.

The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a group with alleged link to the PKK, has claimed responsibility for two recent deadly attacks in Ankara, hardening the government's resolve to fight on.

"We can only break this deadlock by promoting the sentiment of brotherhood and friendship," observed Kutluas.

In her view, Turks and Kurds have to learn to live together with mutual acceptance of each other's stories and tragedies.

"Otherwise it is not possible to find a long-lasting solution," she said. "Fueling the differences and creating a sense of polarization does not help."

A man in his 40s, who lives in Turkey's western coastal city of Izmir, also stressed alternative means to military conflict.

"We can solve this issue only by investing on those people (Kurds)," he said. "Only after that there is a chance that they would select other methods to attain their rights."

Reports said more than half of Turks believe that the PKK does not represent Kurds in the country and even more are leaning toward a peaceful solution.

Turkish analysts who spoke to Xinhua agreed that the PKK is benefitting from the rise of Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq and the wars in the region.

"The organization has gained a lot momentum within the last couple of years and became a global threat," remarked Mete Yarar, a prominent security expert.

In Yarar's view, behind the PKK are "sponsoring countries" lending support to it, and the support mostly "comes directly from the NATO and EU countries."

"With the high morale PKK receives from the West, it involves in more and more terrorist attacks," he said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday also criticized EU countries for backing the PKK, as the group's supporters were allowed to pitch tents behind the European Council building in Brussels prior to a EU-Turkey summit held the same day over a deal to stem the flow of migrants into EU countries via Turkey.

Yarar argued that the entire region has become a "very convenient location" providing the PKK with easy access to heavy weaponry, training camps and potential recruits.

"PKK now has the opportunity to recruit more and more militants from a larger geography not limited to Turkey but also from Syria, Iraq and Iran as well," he added, as the three countries have a Kurdish population as well.

Ismail Hakki Pekin, a retired general and former director of the intelligence department of Turkish Joint Chief of Staff, told Xinhua that the instability expanding in Turkey is exactly a situation sought by "foreign powers" including the United States and EU countries.

In his view, the foreign powers intend to force the Turkish government to start negotiations with the PKK by taking advantage of the chaos.

He argued that Turkey should definitely change its entire Middle East policy and choose to closely cooperate with Iran, Iraq, Syria and Russia.

"Then it should (be able to help) clean the country from all kinds of terrorist elements including the radical Islamist organizations," remarked Pekin. Endit