Terror in Istanbul and beyond

The murderous car bomb attacks in Istanbul at the weekend will achieve none of their apparent political objectives. Turkey is the most secular of Islamic nations and was possibly targeted for that reason. It will not be distancing itself from either the United States or Israel, with both of which its ties are longstanding and unusually cordial. Turkey is more likely to remain close to the U.S. and seek, among other things, an abatement of criticism of its stern treatment of its Kurdish minority, whose defiance of its authority Istanbul customarily describes as its own terrorist problem.

Not that those behind Saturday's bombings were of Kurdish origin. Rather, a radical Islamic group linked to al-Qaeda, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, has claimed responsibility for the bombings outside two synagogues in Istanbul which killed 18 Muslims and six Jews. It threatens further attacks in other countries, including Australia.

The group says "Jews around the world will regret that their ancestors ever thought about occupying the land of Muslims". It says the U.S. and its allies must "put an end to the war they are waging against Islam and Muslims in the name of the war on terror and withdraw from all Muslim lands desecrated by Jews and Americans, including Jerusalem and Kashmir". It also calls for the release of all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay and of Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, the spiritual guide of Egypt's Jamaah Islamiyah, who is jailed in the U.S.

It backs these demands with threats: "We say to the criminal Bush and his Arabs and Western hangers-on -- in particular Britain, Italy, Australia and Japan -- that the cars of death will not stop at Baghdad, Riyadh, Istanbul, Nasiriyah, Jakarta and the rest until you see them with your own eyes in the middle of the capital of this era's tyrant, America."

There is not the remotest chance that the wild demands accompanying these obscene threats will be met. The first response in all countries under threat will be to heighten vigilance and increase counter-terrorist measures. That is the only sensible immediate response. In Australia that means, especially, taking special care to protect potential targets in the Jewish community.

That is not to say that reflexive, defensive measures are enough. For the long haul, the even harder task of achieving peace and stability in the Middle East, to remove the conditions in which such hatred breeds, must continue.

-- The Sydney Morning Herald