Erdogan’s Legacy of Fear

 In the early hours of January 1, a lone gunman stormed Istanbul’s Reina
nightclub, shooting 39 people dead and wounding 71 others before making
his escape. The next day, the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed
responsibility for the attack, describing Turkey as a “protector of the
cross” and claiming to have “struck one of the most famous nightclubs
where Christians celebrate their apostate holiday.” The intimation of
apostasy refers to the fact that since the 1930s, many Turks have
celebrated the New Year with trappings more frequently associated with
Christmas, such as Santa Claus bringing gifts to children. Yet virtually
all of the revelers and staff in Reina at the time of the attack were
Muslim. In recent months, many Turks had started to avoid Istanbul’s
best-known nightspots—particularly Reina—precisely because they feared
an attack by ISIS. But the club had remained popular with Arab tourists.
Only 11 of those killed in the nightclub were Turks; the other 28 were
foreigners, mostly Arabs from other countries in the Middle East.

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