By Michaela Whitton at theantimedia.org
United Kingdom — The death toll from Turkey’s second suicide bombing in a month continues to rise, with at least 37 people now dead as a result of the attack in the Kizilay district of Ankara on Sunday evening. A further 125 remain in hospital — some in a serious condition — after the blast from a bomb-laden car, less than a month after dozens of military personnel and civilians were killed in the Turkish capital.
Turkish security officials have since claimed that a man and woman belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) — which has waged a decades-long battle for Kurdish autonomy in the region— are to blame for the attack, although there has been no claim of responsibility. Critics have been quick to condemn the premature accusation as Turkey faces multiple security threats, including from Islamic State militants.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, reports emerged that a Turkish court had ordered social media accounts to be blocked to prevent people from sharing photos.
In the global response to the third bombing in the capital since October 2015, people rushed to update their Facebook profile pictures and overlay their mugshots with a Turkish flag. The hashtags #PrayForAnkara and #JeSuisAnkara began trending immediately in solidarity across social media.
Actually, that is not true. I made it up. However, the world was so mute on the devastating attack that a simple Facebook status calling for empathy with the victims received over 100,000 shares, presumably from those frustrated with the apparent double standard that often plagues reactions to tragic incidents around the world. The post by James Taylor, who lives in Ankara, urged readers to imagine the attack had happened where they live.
“Can you imagine being there? Can you imagine the place you walk past every day, the bus stops you use, the roads you cross being obliterated?” he asked.
“Contrary to what many people think, Turkey is not the Middle East. Ankara is not a war zone, it is a normal modern bustling city, just like any other European capital, and Kizilay is the absolute heart, the centre,” he added.
He continued:
“It is very easy to look at terror attacks that happen in London, in New York, in Paris and feel pain and sadness for those victims, so why is it not the same for Ankara? Is it because you just don’t realise that Ankara is no different from any of these cities? Is it because you think that Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country, like Syria, like Iraq, like countries that are in a state of civil war, so therefore it must be the same and because you don’t care about those ones, then why should you care about Turkey? If you don’t believe that these attacks in Ankara affect you, or you can’t feel the same pain you felt during the Paris or London attacks, then maybe you should stop to think why, why is it that you feel like that.”
Taylor concludes with: “You were Charlie, you were Paris. Will you be Ankara?”
Others took to Twitter to voice their dismay at the global double standards.
#JeSuisAnkara no I didn't think so.
— MícheálMacCumascaigh (@demicker) March 15, 2016
No #JeSuisAnkara? Well that's shocking#Ankara #NotReally
— nope. (@the_middle_road) March 15, 2016
No #JeSuisAnkara? Is that because they don't have baguettes there? #Ankara
— GlobalMouthful (@GlobalMouthful) March 15, 2016
Don't forget the tragedies occurring in other parts of the world#IstandwithAnkara #IstandwiththeIvoryCoast #JeSuisIvoirien #JesuisAnkara
— Julissa Ruiz (@WDlolz99) March 14, 2016
No #JeSuisAnkara Because they are Muslims .. #Hepocrisy https://t.co/Y334jjzc1X
— Abdul Muhaimin (@sezan92) March 14, 2016
#JeSuisAnkara ? -Or do Turkish people not matter as much as the French?
— Dave Cooper (@dcoops1989) March 14, 2016
This article (Public Reaction to Ankara Terror Bombings Reveal Global Double Standards) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Michaela Whittonand theAntiMedia.org. Anti-Media Radio airs weeknights at 11pm Eastern/8pm Pacific. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. If you spot a typo, email [email protected].
Go Kurds!!! America stands behind you!!!
Give Turkey everything bad that they deserve!
Turks murdered and stole land from Greece. Turks slaughtered and committed genocide against the Armenian people, killing 1.5 million Armenians, and now Turkey is doing the same thing to the Kurds.
The audacity of the Turkish people to think that the world actually cares that they Re being bombed! Turkey deserves to be destroyed and the land given back to Greece, Armenia and the Kurds. Then justice will be served. Peace in the middle east can only begin to start once Turkey is destoryed! Kick Turkey out of NATO, Let Russia have at them, Putin will get the job done!!!!! No pity for Turkey from me and many of my fellow Americans! Rot in Hell, Turks!!
Silence Trump supporter.
You, Americans, slaughtered the people who lived where you wanted to live. Then you started doing slavery, and you even had a massive war against your own for whether or not slaves should be legal. Every single place in the world has done stupid shit that lead to lots of people dying, that does not mean the average family mother did it. They are innocent people, you moron.
Go punch some people at your Trump gatherings, you scum.
Which America? Oh yes now i remember, America;The one responsible for the deaths of innocent children, women and men in İraq (by the way what were the Americans doing in İraq in the first place?) And all world still remembers what you have done to Native Americans! So dont say a word about genocide… and slavery!! Dont make me start! you are not even the last person to critisize. So try to be human and -if it is possible- respect our grief.
Once more we realised that there is no friend to Turks other than Turks!
We do have empathy to the ordinary turkish person.
But let’s face it there is a civil war in Turkey. Do you know how many kurds have been killed there? Aren’t we “JeSuisKurd” ?
Just imagine what is it like to be put in jail only because you said something bad for Erdogan? Being killed only because you are kurd?
Come on, when Hitler have killed so many jewish people it was a genocide, but when Erdogan is killing kurds in Turkey AND SYRIA it is ok… Turkey is a victim of bad terrorist…. please. The biggest terrorist is in charge!
how educated are those people here. open some history books, kurds are still living peacefully all over Turkey, its only the trouble makers (pkk, pyd, ypg)who are trying to seperate the country who are getting dealt with. and maybe that is an acceptable reaction after 30 years of terrorism on civilians, teachers and security forces..
well to your other point about to who the land belongs. history teaches 700 years of turkish rule over those lands, before that u had the byzantine empire, roman empire etc. matter of fact, in history there has never been something u calling Kurdistan.
speaking of history, the kurds you are trying to protect here, same brothers who we fought WW1 with vs. allies and russians.. again. do your study, see what the plans were after the occupation of Turkey at WW1. see how the people stood up and established a republic.. maybe then u can see all the games around middle east and Turkey and how much they desire to get hold on a crucial location like the anatolia and bosphorus..
as final: im not even an Erdogan supporter. Im pro secular republic which is created by M.K. Ataturk.