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Tribune News Service

The bombing at Istanbul’s Ataturk airport Tuesday is the latest in a wave of terror attacks in Turkey as it grapples with growing unrest spilling over from the civil war raging in neighbouring Syria.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack at the airport, but Turkey has been a target of both Islamic State terrorists and Kurdish separatists during the past year.
Islamic State group blamed for suicide attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, as death toll rises to 36
The growing terrorist threat heightens the risk of destabilising a Nato member and critical US ally in the war against the Islamic State militants.
“Turkey has been very vulnerable to terrorism,” said Bulent Aliriza, an analyst at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

ISIS has had a campaign against Turkey for the past year
James Jeffrey, former US ambassador to Turkey
The Islamic State, also called ISIS and ISIL, has launched major attacks in Turkey over the past year, as the government has cooperated more with the United States and the West in the fight against the Islamic State, which has gained a foothold in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
Bomb attack on police bus in centre of Istanbul kills 11, wounds 36
“Turkey has been involved in balancing act for a year now,” Aliriza said. “It is cooperating with the United States and trying to prevent ISIS from retaliating.”
Initially, Turkey considered the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad as a bigger threat than the Islamic State and was reluctant to cooperate closely with the United States, but more recently the government has helped US-led efforts.

Last year, Turkey allowed US aircraft to fly from Incirlik air base to target militants in Iraq and Syria. Turkey has also increased efforts to prevent foreign fighters from moving through its border into Syria.
James Jeffrey, a former US ambassador to Turkey, said Tuesday’s airport attack has the markings of an Islamic State operation. The target is international and suicide bombers were used in the attack.
New Year bomb plot: Turkish police seize suicide vest, arrest two ‘Islamic State supporters’
“ISIS has had a campaign against Turkey for the past year,” Jeffrey said.
As the US-led coalition has made headway in pushing the militants out of Iraq and Syria, the group has increasingly turned to terror attacks around the world.

“ISIS is striking back,” Jeffrey said.
Hundreds of people have been killed or injured by the wave of attacks in Turkey. There have been at least five major attacks in Istanbul this year.
Earlier this month, a car bomb targeted a police bus in Istanbul, killing seven officers and four civilians. The banned Kurdish Worker’s Party, which attempts to attack police and military targets, was suspected of carrying out the attack, according to media reports.
Massive car bomb kills 34 in Turkish capital, as suicide attackers target bus stop
In January a suspected member of the Islamic State blew himself near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, a major attraction in the city. The blast killed 10 people, including eight German tourists. The government identified the bomber as a Syrian.
Turkey has responded to the attacks by arresting Islamic State suspects and battling the Kurdish Workers’ Party, an armed separatist movement, in its strongholds.
The string of attacks have caused a big drop in tourism, a major source of revenue for Turkey. Many cruise ships that used to make port calls in Istanbul are bypassing the city.


In the line of fire: how terrorism links the world in the internet age

Istanbul airport bombers planned to take hostages during attack

Attack in Turkey a reminder that we cannot let our guard down

‘We’re sad. We’re scared’: A day after Istanbul airport attack, Turks count the cost

Istanbul airport terror attack

Why Turkey is vulnerable to growing terror attacks

A weapon belonging to a dead suicide bomber lays on the floor at Ataturk airport. Photo: 140journo/Reuters

Turkish police officers and members of rescue services work at a destroyed police station in Cinar, in the mostly-Kurdish Diyarbakir province in southeastern Turkey, Thursday Jan. 14, 2016. Kurdish rebels detonated a car bomb at a police station in southeastern Turkey, then attacked it with rocket launchers and firearms, killing several people, including civilians, the governor's office said Thursday. Clashes between Turkey's security forces and the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, reignited in July 2015, shattering a fragile peace process. (AP Photo/Mahmut Bozarslan)

In this image provided by the U.S. Air Force, an F-16 Fighting Falcon takes off from Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, as the U.S. on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015, launched its first airstrikes by Turkey-based F-16 fighter jets against Islamic State targets in Syria, marking a limited escalation of a yearlong air campaign that critics have called excessively cautious. (Krystal Ardrey/U.S. Air Force via AP))

A Turkish anti riot-police officer stands guard near the site of a bomb attack that targeted a bus shuttle service carrying anti-riot police in the Vezneciler district of Istanbul on June 7, 2016. A bomb ripped through a Turkish police bus near Istanbul's historic centre, killing seven officers and four civilians in the latest of a string of attacks in Turkey's biggest city. / AFP PHOTO / IHLAS NEWS AGENCY / - / Turkey OUT

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A string of attacks has caused a big drop in tourism, a major source of revenue for Turkey


Why Turkey is vulnerable to growing terror attacks

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A string of attacks has caused a big drop in tourism, a major source of revenue for Turkey

A string of attacks has caused a big drop in tourism, a major source of revenue for Turkey