Why was Turkey's main airport bombed on Tuesday?
Istanbul Atatürk is the third-busiest airport in Europe and an important gateway linking North America and Europe with the Middle East and Asia, serving 1,225 flights a day. The terrorists sought to scare foreign visitors, as well as anyone thinking about visiting Turkey, and to wreak havoc on the country's tourism industry. Tuesday's attack was also about sending a message to the Turkish and other governments that three men could drive up to the country's biggest airport with bags of machine guns and suicide vests, and unleash hell.
Are public areas popular with foreigners commonly targeted in Turkey?
It's becoming a trend. In January 12 Germans and a Peruvian were killed by a suicide bomber on the plaza between Istanbul's historic Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. In March an Iranian, an Israeli and two Israeli-Americans were killed on the city's most popular pedestrian street. Islamic State is thought to have been responsible for both attacks. But most foreign visitors to Turkey come for the resorts and beaches in the south and west. So far they've escaped incident.
What does Islamic State want?
In the long run it wants to raise and rule a global Islamic caliphate. Turkey, as the first point of resistance, stands in its way. In addition, last year Turkey finally gave the all-clear for American jets to use its military bases, from where they've carried out air strikes on the jihadist group in Syria and Iraq. Isis wasn't pleased. Turkey has also cracked down on Isis activity along the Syrian border and in recent weeks has broken up several terrorist cells.
How will this week's attack affect Turkey?
The past 12 months have seen Turks grow accustomed to violence. More than 100 people were killed in Ankara while attending a peace rally in October – it was the deadliest attack in modern Turkish history – and assaults on police and security targets in Ankara and Istanbul by Kurdish separatists have killed dozens more. There's also the little-reported issue that the Turkish military has been destroying whole neighbourhoods in the Kurdish southeast as it tries to weed out separatist militants. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in the fighting, which erupted last July. Kurdish politicians say 500,000 people have been displaced. Given these escalations, the Istanbul airport attack, although shocking, surprised few.
Has it killed tourism?
Twenty-four hours before the airport attack Turkey's tourism chiefs were toasting news of diplomatic breakthroughs with Russia and Israel – once sources of thousands of visitors to Turkey. The airport assault has knocked that expectation back, and 2016 is expected to be a write-off for the €28 billion industry. Some Istanbul venders are already planning for 2017.
Can anything put an end to the attacks?
Someone somewhere probably once said that nothing's impossible, but given the deep intractability of the core reason for Turkey's growing violence – the war in Syria – things are likely to get worse. Turkey is afraid that its Kurds, like their brethren in Syria, will soon seek autonomy. So Turkey shells the powerful Kurdish militias in Syria. These same Kurds are backed by Washington, Turkey's ally, and are arguably the most competent political and military opposition force in the country; they represent the best chance of defeating Islamic State and President Bashar al-Asad. And along with Turkey, Russian jets and Islamic State suicide bombers are attacking these Kurdish forces. So some argue that as long as Turkey keeps cutting the legs from under the best shot at beating back Isis in Syria, the bombings here will continue.
