Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya said, “We are making the world narrow for terrorists. Until the last terrorist remains, the struggle will continue with determination.” ^{(03.10.2023 Takvim)}

Comment:
On 1st October, the opening day of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM), a bomb attack was attempted in the morning hours in front of the Ministry of Interior building in Kızılay district of the capital Ankara. One of the attackers detonated himself and the other was neutralised by the security forces. But is this attack really a terrorist attack or a reflection of internal conflict?

First of all, since this attack took place in front of the Ministry of Interior, it obviously carries a message aimed directly at the Minister of Interior. So who is this Minister of Interior Ali Yerlikaya? Although it is not written in his biography, Ali Yerlikaya, who has a bureaucrat background, because he speaks English, may have crossed the road to England like every bureaucrat who graduated from Public Administration. Anyway, even if it is assumed that he did not do a master’s degree or an internship in Public Administration in the UK, he is a person who has been visited by British ambassadors at various times, moreover, Richard Moore, former British Ambassador to Ankara and now the head of the British intelligence organisation MI6, paid a farewell visit to him in 2017 when he was the Governor of Gaziantep. The British do not visit someone so easily, particularly when they are not in the same status. Although they are not in the same status, their visit is either because they have people or to make them their people. Therefore, Ali Yerlikaya, just like Mehmet Şimşek, is one of the pro-British ministers introduced into the cabinet in order to reduce the dosage and tonnage of British criticism.

Just like the operation carried out by Erdoğan in 2006 and the following years against gangs and mafias in order to break the arms and wings of the British that surrounded the country like an octopus, Ali Yerlikaya has recently put a stick in the beehive and launched an operation against gangs and mafias, especially pro-MHP (pro-American) gangs and mafias, who were released from prison by Erdoğan to be placed in the places where the British were purged. On the other hand, he had placed people of bureaucrat origin (as well as pro-British), including some deputy interior ministers, in the Security Directorate, where America had been nesting for years in parallel with the military organisation of the British, kept under its control and equipped with heavy weapons. There were even rumours that the operations would extend to the judiciary. Erdoğan, disturbed by this, had pulled Ali Yerlikaya’s ear through MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. Apparently, the pulling of his ear must not have worked, for America, through its apparatuses, wanted to send a strong message to the Interior Minister at a time when the Parliament was opening in the capital. In short, this attack is a reaction by America’s appendages to the pro-British Ali Yerlikaya’s stirring up America’s hornet’s nest.

It would be superficial to categorise such acts in Turkey solely as acts of terrorism. Even if this attack is categorised as an act of terrorism, it would be naïve to think that it is independent from the influence and political struggle of the great powers in the country. Let us assume that the perpetrators of the attack are PKK members. Then the question arises as to why the PKK, which has been dormant for some time, could have carried out this attack now? Moreover, the PKK has so far always targeted soldiers, rarely the police. Moreover, the target of the attack was not the police, but directly the Minister of Interior. If it had targeted the police, it could have done so anywhere, not in front of the annex building of the Ministry of Interior in the capital.

In Turkey or any other Islamic country, innocent Muslims have always been harmed by the clash of elephants and Muslims have always been the ones who have been oppressed in this conflict and clash. Muslims should be aware of this and should know that the only way out of this conflict between elephants is Islam and the Khilafah (Caliphate) State that will implement Islam.

Ercan Tekinbaş