Globally, New Year’s Day is viewed as a fresh start, a day on which people traditionally resolve to better themselves, to ameliorate their lives. However, in Istanbul, Turkey, thirty-nine innocent individuals were denied the chance to make 2017 a wonderful year. A mere hour after the year began, a gunman stormed into the popular Reina Nightclub. A mere seven minutes later, his massacre was completed; over one hundred casualties resulted.
Although Turkish authorities have yet to capture the ruthless murderer, ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack. Unfortunately, the fact that terrorism motivated the massacre came as no surprise to the nation. Terrorism has become almost commonplace in Turkey, since both ISIS and PPK (the Kurdistan Workers’ Party) seek to control the Middle Eastern country. Over the course of the past eighteen months, hundreds of people, many of which were civilians, were slaughtered in terrorist incidents. Even more horrifying, however, is the number of major attacks that occurred within just the past few weeks: three.
The frequency of terrorism in Turkey has caused already existing tensions between the secular and religious sectors and between the Turks and Kurds to boil over. Rather than banding together in an effort to deter future attacks, the violence has divided contending groups. Aware of the effect its attacks have had on Turkey’s internal divisions, ISIS seems to have deliberately scheduled the Reina nightclub massacre on New Year’s Day not only to maximize bloodshed, but also to intensify the hostility among Turkey’s residents. Because it transpired on New Year’s day, it resurrected an old controversy concerning the holiday: many conservative Muslims dislike its celebration, viewing it a western festivity, while liberal Turks often approve of and partake in the jubilation surrounding January 1st.
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