Turkey never ceases to amaze me.<\/p>\n
Considering it has been confronted with a violent coup attempt and a series of terrorist attacks, the latest of which happened in Izmir only on Thursday, the mood in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa on Friday was far from one of anxiety and uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Gathered in the town\u2019s main square for an inauguration ceremony<\/a>, waving Turkish flags and chanting slogans, the crowd listening to President Recep Tayyip\u00a0Erdogan\u2019s rallying speech seemed perfectly at ease with the party atmosphere of loud music and flying confetti.<\/p>\n Getting on with life and hanging on to hope for the future are the ideal antidotes to terror and violence. We would all want nothing more than seeing Turkey emerge unbroken from this nightmare it has been subjected to.<\/p>\n Yet, with an increasingly populist and jingoistic wave washing up over the country, it is impossible not to wonder whether a significant part of the society might also be losing the plot.<\/p>\n The series of ferocious attacks over the last 12 months have caused such carnage that nobody in Turkey would have any illusions about how serious the situation is. People are aware of dangers. What is often missing is an accurate understanding and a realistic world view.<\/p>\n This is not altogether surprising. The official explanations are not based on sound evidence; claims are not properly challenged.\u00a0 The media is either muzzled or manipulated. Questions cannot be raised in the public interest.<\/p>\n The result is a world view, alongside a self-image, that is astonishingly divergent from outside opinion.<\/p>\n According to the International Crisis Group<\/a>, which states the world is entering its most dangerous chapter in decades, the situation in Turkey is among the 10 biggest risks the world faces in 2017. The threat posed by ISIS, the spiraling conflict with the PKK, and the government\u2019s crackdown on political opposition and dissent are listed as the main concerns.<\/p>\n The Eurasia Group, the political risk consultancy founded by Ian Bremmer, also sees Turkey\u2019s ongoing crackdown as one of the top ten biggest risks<\/a> to the world in 2017, saying \u201cIt\u2019s a volatile player in an increasingly volatile region<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n Looking from the outside, there is a clear recognition that Turkey is facing multiple threats and terrorism is putting security services under pressure as never before.<\/p>\n As the Financial Times<\/a> put it recently, \u201cPolice and intelligence services are overstretched fighting the PKK, Isis and Erdogan\u2019s domestic enemies,\u201d and for Turkey to confront all these security threats at once is an overwhelming task.<\/p>\n Here comes the crunch. Not only do most of the outside world and Turkey have different answers, but are asking radically different questions too.<\/p>\n Who are those trying to harm Turkey? Where did they come from? How did they grow so strong? What do they want?<\/p>\n For Turkey, Kurdish militants, supporters of Fethullah Gulen and the Islamic State are all considered terrorist organizations. Their militants may be home grown but they are masterminded from elsewhere. For the Turkish Government and much of the Turkish public, they are merely tools of an outside power, in order to trip up, destabilize and even destroy a prospering country.<\/p>\n Perception of \u201cthe mastermind<\/a>\u201d can change from year to year. It can be \u201cthe interest rate lobby<\/a>\u201d, \u201cthe Jewish lobby<\/a>\u201d, or even \u201cGermans jealous of Turkey\u2019s impressive infrastructure projects\u201d.\u00a0 For a short while, when the relations were sour, it was \u201cRussia, playing with fire<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n There is often a historical or a religious sectarian explanation, too. A grudge, a persistent resentment that raises its ugly head from time to time.<\/p>\n But there is one bogeyman that never goes away. For the left, the right, the nationalist and the Islamist, the inescapable agent is the United States.<\/p>\n The USA was blamed for directing the 15th<\/sup> of July coup. It has been accused of undermining its NATO ally Turkey in its fight with the Kurdish PKK. Now, the USA is openly accused<\/a> of being the force behind the creation of ISIS.<\/p>\n The Foreign Minister calls<\/a> it intolerable, and the President sends angry warnings.<\/p>\n The right-wing Islamist Yeni Akit newspaper comes out with a picture<\/a> of the American President, photoshopped and superimposed on the face of the New Year\u2019s Eve Istanbul terrorist attack suspect.<\/p>\n The left-wing Aydinlik starts a campaign calling<\/a> for the expulsion of Americans from Incirlik airbase. \u201cWhy is the source of all evil America still using our base?\u201d it asks.<\/p>\n