Homeland Security

DATE=11/21/03

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

NUMBER=5-54568

TITLE=TURKEY REACT

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=ISTANBUL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: Twice in one week, the sprawling city of Istanbul has been devastated by multiple suicide bomb attacks that killed a total of more than 50 people. In Istanbul, V-O-A correspondent Roger Wilkison has found that there is shock and apprehension among the city's people, but also a will to prevail over terrorism.

TEXT: The first two suicide bombings last Saturday targeted Jews and the second pair on Thursday were aimed at British interests, but the vast majority of the dead in both cases were Turkish Muslims.

As this cosmopolitan metropolis of 12-million people that spans two continents sought Friday to return to normality, the mood in crowded Taksim Square, in the very heart of the city, was one of anger and fear that the killers could strike again.

One man, Murat Akinci, who works at an advertising agency, acknowledges that he still feels tense after Thursday's twin car bombings at the British Consulate General and the Istanbul branch of the London-based H-S-B-C bank.

/// AKINCI ACT ///

Everyone is looking at some other cars and (wondering) if there is a bomb in it or not. Maybe, yes, I'm afraid. I'm afraid.

/// END ACT ///

But Gunes Ozkoy, who manages a shop that sells upscale Turkish fabrics, remains calm and defiant.

/// OZKOY ACT ///

I think that the police will do everything. We trust the police, and we are not afraid of these acts.

/// END ACT ///

Even those who were targeted by the bombers, Jews in one case, Britons in the other, say they have no plans to leave Istanbul.

Keith Newton, a retired Briton who has lived in Istanbul for several years, says he is staying.

/// NEWTON ACT ///

I don't think expatriates associate any of this with Turks in general or Istanbul in general. I think this is seen as singularly the work of very wicked terrorists.

/// END ACT ///

And November Paynter, a young British woman who manages an art gallery near her country's now ruined Consulate General, dismisses the blasts and says life must go on.

/// PAYNTER ACT ///

I think the city is one of the safest cities I've ever lived in, ever experienced. And although both blasts were quite traumatic and quite close by, you know life carries on. And it was amazing how quickly people were sweeping up the streets and just getting on with life.

/// END ACT ///

The Turkish daily Radikal carried a banner headline Friday saying the al-Qaida terrorist group had declared war on Turkey. And the English-language Turkish Daily News proclaimed that the four car bombings of the past week were Turkey's September 11th.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters the attacks were aimed at his country because it is a bridge between the West and the Islamic world.

/// GUL ACT ///

We are upgrading our democracy. We are trying to prove that a Muslim country can be democratic, can be transparent, can fulfill the best human rights standards. And we are trying to prove that a Muslim country can be comfortable with the modern world. So, this may disturb some people, maybe.

/// END ACT ///

Foreign Minister Gul vows that Turkey will not bow to terror. But like other countries close to the West, Turkey may remain in the terrorists' firing line in the months and years ahead, particularly as a secular Muslim country with close ties to Israel. (SIGNED)

NEB/RW/AWP/FC/KL