Did Turkey fabricate the blast in Istanbul..?

Loran Ibrahim

On November 13 2022, a blast took place in Istiklal Avenue close to Istanbul by the time Turkish interior minister was distributing the new houses keys in Idleb which considered the al-Qaeda-controlled area “al-Nusra front”. And within 24 hours the Turkish authorities declared arresting the blast perpetrator claiming that she confessed that she was trained by the PYD/YPG, and without an investigation, Turkey blamed SDF over the blast left 6 victims and dozens of injured.
Immediately, the PKK and SDF have denied any role to the blast, moreover, Gen. Mazloum Abdi has demanded an in-depth investigation and provided data about the lady who comes from a Jihadist Palestinian family as Saleh Muslim has affirmed in a television interview with SKY NEWS (11/28/2022) that the lady has no linking with SDF.
Currently, no independent investigation can be conducted in Turkey after the farce of the failed 2016 coup attempt, of which Erdogan was the biggest beneficiary. This operation gave him almost absolute powers, after which he cleansed the army of military leaders who opposed his approach to occupying Syria. He also removed thousands of judges from the courts and imprisoned thousands of university professors and anyone suspected of opposition. Erdogan has arrested more than 160,000 people in total. A few months after that, in April 2017 Erdogan held a referendum on the constitution to shift to a presidential system and exclusivity with maximum powers.
At the beginning of next year 2023, there will be new presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. According to opinion polls conducted by the Turkish opinion research institute Yöneylem, 58 percent of respondents said they would not vote for Erdogan and his party. Therefore, with the approach of any electoral event, Erdogan resorts to the Kurdish issue, and the Syrian refugee file, in order to manipulate voter orientations, after his party lost twice in a row in the 2019 Istanbul mayoral elections. Also, in order to divert attention from the economic crisis that Turkey has been suffering from for years (according to the Independent Inflation Research Group (ENAG), inflation in Turkey has exceeded the 185% mark).Qatari funds have not been able to mitigate the economic fallout, as Qatari funds have flowed in the form of investments in the new Istanbul Canal, or as financial grants for the construction of settlements by Turkish companies in Turkish-occupied Syrian territory to make a demographic change on the border strip between Syria and Turkey, where the Kurdish people reside on both sides of the border.

On the other hand, Erdogan will have to incarnate himself as a national hero by cowardly means, of course, by targeting Kurdish villages and towns in northern and eastern Syria, and killing and displacing more Kurds from their lands. Like Afrin, Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad. In order to attract the emotion of his audience, draw attention to the security file and cover up the Turkish currency crisis after the Corona pandemic and the Ukrainian war, there is nothing better than controlling the tendencies of the Turkish voter, reinforced by a culture of hatred rooted in Turkish history against the different other, and rampant racism in Turkey against Syrians in general. To achieve this, there is nothing easier than a cowardly war, led by Erdogan with drones, F-16 planes and mercenary factions, to wage a barbaric war on the experience of the Autonomous Administration in northern and eastern Syria.

Thus, the investigation ceased, and the data was turned into weak pretexts to start his military operation, taking advantage of the preoccupation of the main powers (Russia and America) with the Ukrainian war. It is also an opportunity for Erdogan to practice his habit of blackmailing Western countries, especially in the case of Sweden and Finland joining NATO. This was reflected in the statement of his Foreign Minister Cavusoglu (30/11/2022), who reiterated his call on Sweden and Finland to abandon their political system and act like a dictatorial state in which the judiciary does not say anything about the request of foreign countries to extradite their citizens. Which will not happen.

We have some basic information to interpret what happened. Perhaps the first is what has emerged in the Turkish press that the AKP may have fabricated this bombing and exploited it for electoral purposes in the next few months. As happened in 2016 and the coup farce that made the Justice Party unique in power. Second, the PKK categorically rejects the targeting of civilian areas in Turkey, and the SDF has not fired a shot at Turkey since the establishment of the SDF. Third, Turkey wrapped up the investigation into the explosion and put it behind it. Although the Istanbul Security Directorate said it only suspected the main suspect and did not resolve this, through an independent investigation, issued any statement confirming the authority's narrative.

In summary, this blast serves Turkish interests and falls within the mechanisms of the Justice and Development Party to prepare for the upcoming electoral process. Erdogan, like any other dictator, for him the death of people is a routine procedure to pass on private interests. Including killing his own people. He himself used to address Bashar al-Assad as a murderer, but today he intends to shake his hand and address him again with the phrase he used at the opening ceremony of Aleppo International Stadium in 2007, when he addressed him as my brother and friend. Fortunately, there are complex contradictions in Syria that will not give Erdogan what he is looking for. But staying in power will cost many lives.