Soon after came the deadliest assault in the country's modern history. The twin bombings in the Turkish capital of Ankara that took place on October 10, 2015, claimed more than 100 lives. The situation did not improve in the months that followed. This year has already seen four deadly terrorist attacks rock major Turkish cities.
Following the latest car bombing in Ankara that left at least 37 people dead, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that terrorism should be redefined. Erdogan believes that there is no difference between "a terrorist holding a gun or a bomb and those who use their position and pen to support terror."
"The fact that an individual could be a deputy, an academic, an author, a journalist or the director of an NGO does not change the fact that that person is a terrorist," the Turkish president claimed.
Al-Monitor called Erdogan's response to the Ankara bombing "disturbing," adding that the president "is using Turkey's troubles to take his increasingly authoritarian rule to new heights." Many worry, that anyone who disagrees with anything the AKP says or does could be labeled a terrorist.
It follows then that "besides endangering lives and rights, the government's anti-terrorism campaign appears to be woefully ineffective: Far from reining in terror, it may produce yet more," Istanbul-based journalist Zia Weise wrote for Foreign Policy.
