These are difficult days for Turkey. Just days after a suicide car bombing in the capital Ankara claimed 35 lives, a second suicide bomber killed four and wounded dozens in Istanbul. The first attack was claimed by an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party.
The second appears to be the work of ISIL. Given that all terror attacks in Turkey over the past two years have been linked to either the PKK or ISIL, it is almost certain one of those two groups is the culprit.
Our hearts go out to the victims of this latest attack and to Turks across the country, many of whom will be wondering if there will be further attacks. That possibility cannot be ruled out – the war with Kurdish separatist groups and ISIL’s presence inside the country means that Turkey is now on the front line of the broader war against terror.
There is no doubt it has paid a heavy price for the Syrian conflict and for its generous role in hosting millions of refugees. It still hosts more Syrian refugees than any other large European or Middle Eastern country. Even with the new deal with the European Union – which came into force yesterday – Turkey will still play host to millions of Syrians. It will need financial and political support to deal with that.
Further, to a large degree the renewed war with Kurdish separatists has its roots in the Syrian crisis. It was a bombing targeting Kurdish activists – attributed to ISIL – in summer 2013 that provide the spark for the renewed violence; the reactions from the Kurdish side escalated into the general battle we see today.
It is important, then, that we do not forget how long and hard this battle will be. Much has been made, in western media and on social networking sites, of the disconnect between the amount of attention given to terror attacks in Paris and recent ones in Turkey. Too few Europeans appear to grasp the severity of the conflict in which Turkey is engaged.
But all these attacks are related. The Syrian war is destabilising the entire Middle East and Europe. Turkey is on the front lines of that conflict. Our thoughts and prayers are with Turkey tonight, not merely out of sympathy, but because the war in Turkey is same war against extremism we face.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Marital status: Single
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Tottenham 0-1 Ajax, Tuesday
Second leg
Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm
Game is on BeIN Sports
Batti Gul Meter Chalu
Producers: KRTI Productions, T-Series
Director: Sree Narayan Singh
Cast: Shahid Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Divyenndu Sharma, Yami Gautam
Rating: 2/5
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
