The bomb in Istanbul could start something even worse

 

Ingvar Persson 

 

The bomb in Istanbul could start something even worse 

Billström hopes that nothing will change 

 

Published: Today 16.00 

 

Updated: Less than 20 min ago 

 

Aftonbladet's editorial page is independent social democratic. 

 

 

Flowers at the scene of the attack on the Istikal shopping street in central Istanbul. Photo: Khalil Hamra / AP 

 

LEDARE

 

An explosion in the middle of Sunday-off people on one of the city's most popular shopping streets. At least six dead, two of them children. Over 80 injured. Sadness, uncertainty and fear and a terrible abuse. An attack in the heart of the giant city on the border between Europe and Asia. 

 

 The bomb on the Istikal shopping street very close to Taksim Square in the European part of Istanbul bears all the signs of terrorism. All but one. 

 

Terrorists are usually quick to take "credit" for their actions. But so far no one has claimed responsibility for the attack on Sunday. 

 

There is no shortage of candidates 

 

There is no shortage of candidates. Turkey is a society with great contradictions. The country's role in the Syrian war also opened doors for terror from elsewhere. 

 

The police in Istanbul have arrested a woman who is a Syrian citizen. According to the authorities, she herself says that she acted on the orders of the terrorist organization PKK. The Turkish regime also singles out the PYD party of the Syrian Kurds as complicit in the act. 

 

Both the PYD and the PKK, for their part, condemn the attack. Terrorists don't usually act like that. 

 

Should the accusation still prove to be true, we are not only facing a tragic and unjustified act of terror, but also a political situation that could worsen very quickly. 

 

Talk about an invasion 

 

Since last spring, President Erdogan has been talking about a new invasion of northern Syria. The aim would be to expand the "security zone" along the border and chase away the Kurdish forces. 

 

The attack in Istanbul could be the signal to put the plans into action. Then the world risks not only further fighting in Syria, but also more terrorism. It was in practice the Kurdish forces that defeated the terror sect IS. And today it is the Kurds who keep thousands of terrorists, including from Sweden, locked up. 

 

Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, on the day of his first EU summit, receives questions about whether the bomb in Istikal will affect Sweden's negotiations on membership in NATO. It should not, according to the foreign minister. 

 

For once, Billström may be right. For the Turkish government, the issue of Swedish and Finnish membership in NATO does not seem to be at the top of the agenda. The terrorist attack in Istanbul has hardly made the regime in Ankara more interested.