Terrorism

In Istanbul, the daily returns only slowly

The people of Istanbul to mourn the victims of the suicide attack at the weekend. At the same time you try in your everyday life to return. This is not so easy, reported by Anna Lekas Miller from Istanbul.

On the shopping street of Istiklal in Istanbul, Turkish flags lie on a bed of white and red flowers. You are exactly where two days earlier a man in the air has blown up. In the attack four tourists were killed and 39 people were injured. “I can’t believe it happened here,” says Asil, a 29-year-old lawyer. She works nearby and came to the scene of the crime, to bear witness to the Victims of their respect. “I walk along here every day on my way to work.”

The bomb exploded at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. Then it is normally quiet on the Istiklal. Otherwise, tourists and Locals that go there to Shop or eat, cavort on the street alike.

As the scene was cleared and the road is released, gathered there, citizens laid flowers and candles and signs, in which they condemn in various languages, Terror and sympathy for the victims, Istanbul, Turkey Express. On a sign in French: “a few months Ago we were in Paris. Today we are in Istanbul.” More Turkish then: “We have no fear. We are not going to get used to it. We will not be silent.”

In memory of the victims condolences to the location of the attack

The offender should have listened to ISIS

Even before the attack there had been safety concerns. On Sunday, the Kurdish new year festival was celebrated Newroz. Around this Feast had been expected because of the escalating conflict between Kurdish organisations and the government in the South-East of the country with possible acts of violence. The suicide bombers of Istanbul, however, had no relations with the banned Kurdish party PKK, but the terrorist militia “Islamic state”, in Arabic, Daesh.

“The investigations have shown that the Terrorist had ties to Daesh,“ said Turkish interior Minister Efkan Ala held a press conference. “But we are now considering, other Compounds, or the men behind.” He is referring to the two attacks in the Turkish capital of Ankara, as well as other attacks in the southwest this year, which were perpetrated by PKK supporters.

Ghostly silence in Istanbul

For Turkey to 2016 with a view to the fight against terror is not a good year: in addition to the increasing number of attacks on the Kurdish organizations, the terror militia IS gaining in the country at the inlet. The interior Minister stressed: “The fight against Terror will continue.”

In the hours after the attack started the usual Chaos in Istanbul had made a eerie silence wide. The normally so lively Istiklal street was closed due to the investigation. Even if the transport, delivery, avoided many people, the subways, and ferries that connect the city, because they were in the past, multiple targets of attacks. On the otherwise chronically clogged streets something was going on.

On the streets in Istanbul, only a few people dared to

Parents leave children at home

In the evening after the attack and also the Clubs and Bars in Taksim were opened square on the Istiklal. There is going on in normal nights, always something, it runs music and people standing on the street. The shops remained but this Saturday is almost empty. “We had hoped that some people come to show, that you can not be intimidated,” said Ozan, a Manager of a popular Bar in the nearby neighbourhood of Cihangir. However, most of the chairs in his otherwise well-stocked Bar are remained free. “I think people are not yet ready.”

On Monday morning, the dealer opened on Istiklal again their business in the hope of customers. Some reported, however, that employee remained at home, or parents would not send their children to the school, opposite the scene of the crime. “It feels weird to welcome customers and to look carefully at the scene of the crime,” said Fatih the DW. He is a salesman in a fashion shop just opposite of the place of the Explosion. After the attack, had hidden a lot of People in the business, and on the evacuation waiting. Protected you were barricade of a Metal. “But I had to work today, and life must go on. We will not live our lives in the shadows.”