A Letter from Turkey After the Bombing

We received a note from a Muslim Turkish friend and thought you would be interested in the interpretation of events rather than another description.

We received a note from a Muslim Turkish friend and thought you would be interested in the interpretation of events rather than another description.

“Today, there is no Arab nation fond of Turkey. On the contrary, there is accelerating hatred toward Turkey in the Arab world because Turkey has proven that a Muslim country can be secular, democratic and work for peaceful purposes. Therefore Turkey is becoming their target. Please tell me if you have heard of Saudis or Kuwaitis or Egyptians killed in terror caused by Osama Bin Laden or the like? Al-Qaeda actually said it did NOT do Morocco or Saudi Arabia, both Muslim countries, only Turkey. Their first targets is Israel, second is the U.S. and, believe me, third is Turkey. Make no mistake about the sequence. Therefore, lesson number one is to make sure that the U.S., Israel and Turkey are in the same alliance.

“At the same time, impressive things happened on that tragic day. Turkish TV stations were calling for extra blood for the injured and a lot of people in Istanbul rushed to the hospitals. It is Ramadan, they are Muslims and they are fasting; giving blood breaks the fast. Because of the location of the explosion, everyone knew the majority of the injured were Jews, but Muslims did not hesitate to give their blood to them, even breaking the fast. Also, the Prime Minister visited Ishak Haleva, the Chief Rabbi, to offer condolences to the Jewish community; the first Turkish Prime Minister to visit the Chief Rabbi.

“I hope Americans, seeing again the results of twisted minds, will not give up the fight against terrorists whether they are in Afghanistan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria or Iran, even if it means killing innocents in the course of trying to kill the terrorists.

“As Israel, the U.S. and now Turkey are fighting these twisted radical so-called Muslims – what are our European friends doing? Please, the picture is very clear – there is no help there. Israel, the U.S. and Turkey have suffered and are suffering. We can no longer say, ‘The snake which does not touch me may live for a thousand years.’

“Since Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility for this terror attack but not others in Muslim countries, it is very clear to most of us that they have subcontractors in Turkey. An investigation is being conducted to find traces of them, and it is likely that they brought the explosives from Iraq. This brings us to the point that Turkey cannot be indifferent to what happens in Iraq. We have a long common border and terrorism prepared in Iraq will affect Turkey first and foremost.

“I wish we were Denmark.

“But I believe Israel, Turkey and the U.S. must work together for peace and progress in the Middle East. If we get side-tracked by the EU, radical Islamic activities or the like, we will never see any progress in this part of the world. I hope that none of us will ever see these horrific pictures of terror again in our lives.”