Terror attacks are happening on a monthly basis. 36 dead, 147 injured. So common that hours later there hasn’t been a thread star
*started until Now
I was too busy to start a thread because I was trying to find out when (and if) my sister would be flying through that airport!!!
My heart goes out to the victims. So senseless and so sad.
If you saw the (NSFW) videos oc the attacks, you see how absolutely heroic the cops are.
@VaBluebird I hope she’s safe. Let us know
sorry meant @BunsenBurner
Thanks, InfinityMan. She is safe.
BBC reporter is reporting from a plane on the tramack of the Ataturk airport:
“Terror attacks are happening on a monthly basis. 36 dead, 147 injured. So common that hours later there hasn’t been a thread star.”
Meh. Nothing can be done about it so just need to get use to it like we do mass shootings that happen on a weekly basis here.
Thoughts and prayers for the victims.
BB, glad your sister is ok.
I have a friend who is a travel writer who landed in Istanbul an hour or two before the attacks. Very scary! But it could be anywhere couldn’t it.
I was browsing for plane tickets to England when we saw the news break. My mom goes “You sure you want to go?” Yes. We can’t put our lives on hold.
Terror attacks happen literally daily. We just don’t give a hoot about them unless they’re on US or European soil. People in the Middle East and Africa being killed in droves? Meh.
I do hope the injured recover.
The attention depends on where the TV cameras go.
The only thing an individual can do is avoid crowds as much as possible.
One of my friends lives in Istanbul and I have an acquaintance who also lives there. Thankfully both are safe. It’s unbelievable how many terrorist attacks have occurred in Turkey this past year and how quickly they’re forgotten by most people here.
My youngest is thinking about traveling after graduation (I agreed to give her some money for it, since she decided not to study or take a school trip abroad). She initially said she wanted to go to Turkey – no way given the last year’s events.
I must admit that I am glad my daughter is no longer living in Turkey. She was in Ankara, but still…
The BBC article has a list of the major attacks that happened there in the past 2 years. It is quite a long list:
Major recent attacks:
2016
7 June, Istanbul: Car bomb kills seven police officers and four civilians. Claimed by Kurdish militant group TAK
19 March, Istanbul: Suicide bomb kills four people in shopping street. IS blamed.
13 March, Ankara: Car bomb kills 34. Claimed by TAK.
17 February, Ankara: 29 killed in attack on military busses. Claimed by TAK
12 January, Istanbul: 11 Germans killed by Syrian bomber in tourist area
2015
23 December, Istanbul: Bomb kills cleaner at Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport. Claimed by TAK
10 October, Ankara: More than 100 killed at peace rally outside railway station. Claimed by IS
20 July, Suruc, near Syrian border: 34 people killed in bombing in Kurdish town. IS blamed
I wonder how this recent rash of attacks affects Turkey’s bid to join the EU?
This is what we used to call “the terrorists winning.”
The 22-year-old of dear friends flew out of Istanbul just hours before the attack. Same kid was in Boston for the marathon bombing. Parents are grateful but still freaked out.
I’ve considered saying to my family, “let’s put a hold on travel”… but then I remembered that my husband commutes to Penn Station everyday (at least those days that he is not flying all over for his job.) Oh and there’s the issue that we also have an apartment in NYC and my daughters live there … taking the subway everyday and passing by soft targets like Grand Central Station, Union Square and Washington Square Park almost daily. And we are a block from the High Line, another vulnerable area.
So I’ll hold my breath when youngest D travels home from Rome on Thursday … but I can’t hold my breath everyday and try not to think about it.
I don’t see protecting yourself as ‘the terrorists winning’. The terrorists win when the body count goes up. I am fortunate that I don’t live in a high density area and I choose to vacation in remote uncrowded places. I am also not going to South America or the Caribbean due to the Zika threat. That doesn’t mean the mosquitos win.