UNDECLARED WAR

The two explosions in Ankara, which claimed more than 100 lives, finally secured the state of war Turkey is in now. The bloodiest terrorist attack in the history of the republic confirmed the vital need for the complete eradication of terrorism both in Turkey and worldwide.

The double attack occurred in Turkey's capital before the peace march, which was organized by a number of trade unions and social organizations. The demonstrators with slogans of "Work, Peace, Democracy" gathered to call for an end to the spate of violence in the south-east of the country and the speedy conclusion of the armed conflict between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). However, the suicide bombers who staged the two powerful explosions in Ankara got in the way of the peacekeeping campaign.

So far, no terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the attack. Ankara believes that the so-called Islamic State (IS), the PKK or a left-wing radical organization could be behind the bombings. In any case, the theory about the involvement of Islamic State in the terrorist attack, the war against which also involves Turkey as a member of the international coalition under the leadership of the United States, takes priority.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced the arrest of 10 people, who can be related to the terrorist attack in Ankara. Although he noted that the detainees are linked to Islamic State and the PKK, the style of the crime is similar to the methods used by international terrorist organizations led by the notorious Islamic State, especially as according to the initial information of the Turkish authorities, the perpetrators of the terrorist attack were related more to Islamic State.

Islamic State, which controls part of the territory of Iraq and Syria, declared war on Ankara immediately after Turkey joined the international coalition and even sentenced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself to death. Experts have suggested that Islamic State is trying to turn Turkey into a "second Syria". Ankara has already been drawn into the Syrian conflict, which, as we see, has caused the war in the neighbouring Arab country to move into the territory of Turkey. Ankara's aid to the Syrian opposition in order to overthrow the regime of Bashar al-Asad contributed to the spread of the model "war of all against all" in Syria. Syria, which turned into a hotbed of global terrorism after Iraq, became an objective threat to the national security of Turkey, which is proved by all the recent events, including the terrorist attack in Ankara.

The British news agency Reuters reported, citing sources in the security services of Turkey, that the terrorist attack in Ankara bears a striking resemblance to the July explosion in the city of Suruc near the border with Syria. Responsibility for the July crime that killed 32 people was claimed by Islamic State, and Reuters sources say that everything in the Ankara terrorist attack also points to Islamic State.

This information is linked the detention of 768 Islamic State members, which was also announced by the head of the Turkish government, Ahmet Davutoglu. At the same time, the prime minister said that the terrorist attack in Ankara is an attempt to influence the early parliamentary elections to be held in Turkey on 1 November this year.

In Turkey, some forces are in favour of cancelling the election, but Ankara, apparently, is not considering such a possibility. Meanwhile, the outcome of the upcoming elections may be not quite rosy for the ruling party. According to the results of the June elections, the AKP lost the ability to form a single-party government. Now, taking into account the political situation that has significantly worsened in the country, which is proved by all the recent attacks in the capital and regions of the country, the position of the AKP seems to be even weaker. In any case, we can talk about the growing discontent of the Turkish public with the activities of a government that is not capable of a decisive breakthrough in the fight against terrorism.

However, the de facto leader of the ruling party, President Erdogan, and the chairman of the AKP, Prime Minister Davutoglu, apparently expect the contrary, namely, that the escalation of tensions in the country will strengthen the party's chances of success as voters will deem the consolidation of the AKP in the Turkish political scene as a way out of the situation.

Whatever it is, what is clearly more evident is that the inability of the leading political forces in Turkey to form a coalition government based on the results of the June elections and the lack of elementary desire to join their efforts for the security and national interests of the country have considerably weakened them in the face of domestic and foreign threats. Meanwhile, the current situation, which is fraught with a further increase in the terrorist threat to Turkey and the expansion of the scale of Ankara's involvement in the Middle East conflicts, dictates precisely the mobilization of all the resources of the state and the unity of the political forces. The country's future will largely depend on whether the most influential political parties of Turkey will be able to appropriately answer this momentous challenge.

As for the theory about the involvement of Kurdish militants in the double bombing, given the previous deadly experience, it also has the right to exist. However, experts doubt that it is realistic. The thing is that one of the explosions in Ankara took place close to the place where representatives of the pro-Kurdish Democratic People's Party (DPN) came together. In addition, the participants in the upcoming demonstration called for a swift end to the armed conflict between Turkey and the PKK. By the way, a few hours after the terrorist attack in Ankara, the PKK itself announced its intention to cease hostilities in the territory of Turkey. Considering also that many of the victims of the explosion in Suruc, with which criminologists investigating the crime in Ankara drew an analogy, were representatives of the Kurdish minority, the theory about the Kurdish hand in the terrorist attacks virtually loses serious grounds.

Nevertheless, the extraordinary threat to the security of Turkey and its people from the Kurdish terrorists remains a fact, especially in view of the indisputable fact that the latter are a handy tool in the hands of certain external forces for the implementation of great power interests in the region.

In this regard, it is notable that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has summoned the ambassadors of Russia and the United States in Ankara to protest against the assistance that Moscow and Washington provide to the Kurdish Democratic Union (KDU) operating in Syria. The Turkish side is sure that the KDU has close ties and is even a unified structure with the PKK, and therefore, the supplies of arms to Syrian Kurds within the framework of the US and Russian war against Islamic State may cause the Kurdish terrorists operating against Turkey on the territory of the Turkish state itself and in the border areas of Iraq and Syria to acquire weapons.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu clearly stated that Ankara will never allow the PKK to acquire arms, which is why it will consider the assistance of foreign forces to the KDU as a step aimed against Turkish interests. If armed assistance is provided to the Syrian Kurds, Turkey, as Davutoglu warned, will take appropriate action.

Thus, Turkey is going through a very important historic moment. The terrorist gauntlet has been thrown down to Turkey, as it were, for life or death. The near future will show how the Turkish state will respond to it.