When news of a group of militants linked with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) gathering in a village on the Syrian side of the border with the intent of launching an attack on the Turkish border town of Karkamış reached town residents, it sparked panic and prompted the immediate flight of a significant number of residents on Saturday night, a local witness said.
Many headed to provincial capital of Gaziantep, while others were bound for rural cites and faraway villages, to be hosted by their relatives.
A district governor and local military commander was soon dispatched to the border to inspect the authenticity of the rumors and, if they proved true, to take necessary measures against the militant group, including seeking approval from Ankara for a preemptive strike.
A brief late-night tour revealed that the rumors that sent ripples of anxiety through locals in Karkamış were baseless and unfounded.
Governor and military commander visited Karkamış streets packed with jolted citizens to soothe them, called on locals to return home.
“Turkish military and police does and will never let such thing happen, to attack you. We are here to protect you. Now, go home officials told people.
It was too late for those who had already left the town to be assured by officials, but for those who remained, the sense of bewilderment faded away.
Ali Yılmaz, a resident of Karkamış, told Today’s Zaman that they left the town at night upon a warning from their relatives in Syria. He was back at home in the morning after things settled in the town.
“We have confidence in our military but these militants know no bounds when they attack. Given that the distance is so close, like 100 meters, between them and us, we always feel on edge,” he said.
This recent event is a textbook case of ISIL’s psychological overreach, as mere rumors have the potential to displace a large number of people from the border town of Turkey, a country which has the second-largest army in NATO and unmatched military resources to combat ISIL. Regardless of the reputation the militant group has earned for its resilience on battlefield in Syria and Iraq, it has few chances against such military might.
But this is ISIL, which has built its reputation, and entire structure, on speed, surprise, ferocious fighting and brutality. However, what has most disturbed locals in border areas of Turkey is not what has made ISIL what it is in Syria and elsewhere.
Locals concerned about sleeper ISIL cells
As Turkish Air Forces struck ISIL positions in northern Syria for two consecutive days, beginning early on Friday, what locals in border towns and cities most feared was another Suruç-like attack by an ISIL sleeper cell in Turkey.
Anxiety over possible ISIL sleeper cells dogged the streets in the southern city of Kilis, only kilometers away from Syrian border, with locals feeling psychological spillover effects of the Suruç attack in their daily lives: They try to avoid public gatherings, staying away from crowds in bazaars and urban centers.
M.Y.K, a shop-owner in Kilis, says he heads straight home after closing down his shop. “I tell my kids to stay away from crowded areas as a precaution.”
Turkey’s first outright clash with ISIL came only after the militant group was believed to have carried out the bomb attack in Suruç, killing 32 people, and had also fatally shot a soldier at a border post after its members were prevented from crossing into Turkey.
The violence proved to be a turning point or a wakeup call for Turkey, which, for a long time, ignored calls to take a more robust stance against the militant group that controls the Syrian side of the border in the area of Kilis.
On Friday, Turkey arrested nearly 300 suspects thought to be linked with ISIL and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) during raids in 22 provinces. The sudden shift in policy, however, may fall short of producing the desired effect of cracking down on networks of the radical group in Turkey.
Turkish authorities claim the police raids blunted the operational capability of the militant group in the country. But security experts, political observers and citizens on the street believe it is too early to distinguish the net positive effects of the bold new policy directed against ISIL.
“We need to see the strong face of the state these days. Fighting among political actors, among parties, the nation-wide purge within the security bureaucracy, and especially within the police department, has paralyzed the state,” a public servant in Gaziantep told Today’s Zaman.
He declined to be named, but added that he fears the occurrence of an ISIL attack in Gaziantep, a city that once had a burgeoning economy with flourishing trade. The economy, however, has been dismally affected by the prolonged war in Syria, especially by the destruction of Aleppo, a city thought to be the twin of Gaziantep before the war.
The public servant is skeptical about the effectiveness of government action against ISIL, citing considerable support for the militant group in Southeast Turkey. He most fears, he explained with tense voice, a civil war in the country between nationalist and Islamist Kurds.
