There was little talk last Sunday, New Year’s Day, about terror and violence, just the pretence of waking up to a hopeful beginning.  The New Year is here, but it already it felt old – in the most sinister way imaginable. 

The world has to face a year of reckoning on widespread terrorism. Following the Berlin massacre of innocent victims and the deadly New Year’s Eve horrendous attack on a renowned nightclub in Istanbul, which left 39 people dead and many others injured, another car bomb exploded in Izmir last Thursday, killing four people, two of them terrorists. 

The Izmir incident is the latest in a string of terror attacks that has brought Turkey to its knees and is strongly damaging the country’s tourism industry. Unfortunately for Turkey, the New Year’s Eve nightclub attack and the Izmir car bomb will continue to fuel concerns about the safety of this popular tourist destination.

As recently as 2014, Turkey ranked as one of the world’s most popular tourism spots, with approximately 40 million visitors annually. But Turkey is not the only country to suffer the negative effects that these terror attacks have on tourism. France, which until 2013 was the top tourist destination in the world, has also experienced a decline in the numbers of visitors, following a spate of high-profile attacks.

Over the past year, Turkish citizens have become accustomed to terror attacks in sports stadia and airports, and a coup attempt that left hundreds dead. Now, under an extended state of emergency, nightclubs have been added to that list. The sources of the threat are too numerous to handle, the number of unknowns too great. A high-ranking official was quoted as saying that it was not inconceivable for the Turkish government to impose curfews in the coming months.

The previous 12 months had brought to Turkey not only a grim sequence of bombings but also a bloody internal battle against Kurdish militants. Shortly before Christmas, the assassination of Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey in an Ankara art gallery provided the grim final flourish to a macabre year for the country, a NATO member and vital partner to western nations.

What will happen now to a nation that has already experienced so many calamities? Turkey looks set to be defined by these anxieties, especially Istanbul – a gritty metropolis whose residents feel overwhelmed by darkness and violence.

 

Jos. Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara