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Attack at Istanbul Airport Leaves at Least 36 Dead Attack at Istanbul Airport Leaves at Least 36 Dead
(35 minutes later)
ISTANBUL — Suicide attackers killed at least 36 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbul’s main airport on Tuesday night, in the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a NATO ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East. ISTANBUL — Suicide attackers killed more than 30 people and wounded dozens more at Istanbul’s main airport on Tuesday night, in the latest in a string of terrorist attacks in Turkey, a NATO ally once seen as a bastion of stability but now increasingly consumed by the chaos of the Middle East.
Shortly before 10 p.m., officials said, two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at a security checkpoint outside Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, one of Europe’s busiest, and then detonated their explosives, setting off two fireballs. A third attacker detonated explosives in the parking lot, a Turkish official said. Shortly before 10 p.m., officials said, two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons at a security checkpoint outside Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, one of Europe’s busiest, and then detonated their explosives, setting off two fireballs. A third attacker detonated explosives in the parking lot, a Turkish official said.
The attack wounded more than 140, officials said. Hours after the assault, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the early indications suggested that the Islamic State was responsible. But as of early Wednesday the group had not claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack killed at least 36 people and wounded more than 140, officials said. Hours after the assault, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said that the early indications suggested that the Islamic State was responsible. But as of early Wednesday, the group had not claimed responsibility for the attack.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the attack in a statement. “I hope the attack at the Ataturk airport will be a turning point in the world, and primarily for the Western states, for a joint struggle against terror organizations,”Mr. Erdogan said, adding that the attack “revealed the dark face of terror organizations targeting innocent civilians.” The vast majority of the dead were Turks, although some were foreigners, according to a Turkish official. All three of the attackers were killed, officials said.
A Turkish Twitter user posted a video of what appeared to be footage of the bombing. A sharp flash of light is seen piercing the outside area in front of the airport entrance. Outside the terminal on Tuesday night, as calls went out on local news channels for blood donors and the Turkish authorities imposed a ban on publishing images of the scene of the attack, ambulances streamed in, while hundreds of dazed and scared travelers sat on the sidewalk waiting for information. And more travelers, many in tears, were streaming out of the airport.
The Turkish broadcaster NTV showed video of airport employees streaming out of the area of the bombing and crowds of travelers walking away, some carrying luggage and some using their cellphones. “There were blood splatters everywhere,” said Eylul Kaya, 37, sitting outside with her 1-year-old son. “I covered my boy’s eyes and we ran out.”
Flights to and from Ataturk airport were suspended at least through 8 p.m. Wednesday evening, the Dogan news agency reported. The Federal Aviation Administration said it had halted all flights between Istanbul and the United States. As Turkey has faced several deadly terrorist attacks over the past year, Ms. Kaya said she never thought she would find herself in the middle of one. “We’ve watched these attacks on TV for months, but I never imagined it would happen with so much security in an airport,” she said.
T24, an internet news site, showed photographs of people bending to help two victims who were lying on the pavement just outside the airport. Birgun, a Turkish newspaper, posted photographs of fallen tiles and shattered pieces of concrete near a line of cabs outside the airport. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a statement, noted that the bombing came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and called for global unity in the fight against terrorism.
A witness told CNN Turk that injured people were being taken away in taxis, Reuters reported. “We urge the world, especially Western countries, to take a firm stand against terrorism,” he said. “Despite paying a heavy price, Turkey has the power, determination and capacity to continue the fight against terrorism until the end.”
People across Istanbul expressed shock and frustration at the attack. Ahmet Samanci, 27, a graduate student waiting for a ferry on the Asian side of the city, said he had been at the airport at 5 a.m. to pick up his uncle. “How can people come to Turkey, and for what, if there is no security?” he said, looking out at the water. “The bombs that exploded in Istanbul today could have gone off at any airport in any city around the world,” Mr. Erdogan added. “Make no mistake: For terrorist organizations, there is no difference between Istanbul and London, Ankara and Berlin, Izmir and Chicago, or Antalya and Rome.”
Mr. Samanci said that he told his sister, a student at the University at Buffalo in New York, to “just stay there.” The attack was a bloody reminder that Turkey, once seen as a jewel of a tourist destination and an oasis of stability in a chaotic region, has increasingly become caught up in the turmoil of the Middle East. It has faced a string of terrorist attacks over the past year, including several in Istanbul, as it faces threats from both the Islamic State and Kurdish militants fighting a war with the Turkish state in the southeast.
He added: “Generally, there’s very negative energy in the world right now. It is the worst in Turkey.” Turkey once held itself up as an exemplar of a stable, Muslim democracy and sought to influence the region by reaching out to its Muslim neighbors. Early on, when Syria slipped into civil war in 2011, Turkey pushed for the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad and began helping Syrian rebel groups, allowing the transit of fighters and weapons across its territory.
Many Istanbul-bound flights on Tuesday night were diverted to Ankara, the capital of Turkey, more than 200 miles to the east. Stranded passengers were left to sort out travel connections or find accommodations for the night. Turkey’s Western allies, including the United States, blamed the country’s open-border policy for allowing the extremist groups like the Islamic State to become powerful inside Syria, and the chaos has increasingly spilled over into Turkey, with terrorist attacks and waves of refugees.
“Our world is turned upside down,” said Asli Aydintasbas, an analyst who had been aboard a diverted flight. Istanbul “was a happening town, cutting edge in arts and culture — it’s the kind of place that Conde Nast would write about,” she said. “Now this is a Middle Eastern country where these things happen.” Turkey, a NATO member, has often been at odds with its Western allies over its approach to the region. The United States and others believe that Turkey’s early policy on Syria enabled the growth of the Islamic State, and have long felt that Turkey was a reluctant partner in fighting the terrorist group. Turkey, in turn, has grown angry over American support for Syrian Kurdish rebels that it sees as terrorists because of links to Kurdish militants inside Turkey.
Turkey, she added, “is trying to jump ahead, but it’s being bogged down by its neighborhood.” Some of the recent terrorist attacks in Turkey — including a car bombing in Ankara, the capital, in February — have been attributed to Kurdish militants, which have heightened tensions between Ankara and Washington over the support the United States has given to Syrian Kurdish militants fighting the Islamic State.
Almost immediately after the attack, there was speculation that it was politically motivated, and may have been a response to the recent reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, which announced a wide-ranging deal this week to restore diplomatic relations. The countries had been estranged for six years, after the 2010 episode in which Israeli commandos stormed a ship in a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli blockade; 10 Turkish activists were killed in the episode. The attack on Tuesday evoked the bombing of the Brussels airport several months ago, and highlighted the conundrum security officials face in minimizing casualties from terrorist attacks. In Brussels, the attackers managed to get inside the terminal and detonate their explosives. But at the Istanbul airport, the first security check is in a vestibule at the entrance to the terminal, which theoretically adds a layer of security. But even so, people have to line up there and, as the attack demonstrated, it is an easy target for terrorists.
Mustafa Akyol, a prominent Turkish columnist, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, “The fact that the attack came right after the Turkish-Israeli deal might be not an accident.” Judith Favish, a South African who was heading home, said she was at the counter checking in for her flight when she heard gunfire and then an explosion.
“So I jumped across and hid under the counter and then someone told us to run, so I ran and hid in a cafeteria,” she said, standing outside the terminal. “We waited there for an hour and then we were told to get out, but no one has given us any information. I have no clothes, phone, money, nothing. Haven’t called my family. No one is telling me anything.”
She paused, and then said that she had seen blood everywhere near the entranceway.
Flights out of Istanbul were immediately canceled Tuesday night, and ones on their way were diverted. The airport, the third busiest in Europe and the 11th busiest in the world, was closed after the attack, but Mr. Yildirim, the prime minister, said early Wednesday that it had reopened.
Although no group claimed responsibility for the attack, initial speculation centered on Turkey’s two main enemies: the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and Kurdish militants linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., which has waged war with Turkey for more than three decades. Last year, peace talks with the P.K.K. broke down, and the two sides have been at war since. But as hours passed after the attack, Turkish officials turned their attention toward the Islamic State.
“The terrorists arrived at the airport in a taxi,” Mr. Yildirim said. “We will share more details about the attack later. There was no security lapse at the airport.”
Turkey has been rocked by a series of bombings since 2014, and the attacks have been increasing in frequency. In some cases, Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility, but in others, including ones this year in Istanbul’s old city and on its main pedestrian boulevard, Turkish officials have blamed the Islamic State.
Almost immediately, there was speculation that the attack might have been a response by the Islamic State to the recent reconciliation between Turkey and Israel, which announced a wide-ranging deal this week to restore diplomatic relations. The two countries had been estranged for six years, after an episode in 2010 in which Israeli commandos stormed a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli blockade; several Turkish activists were killed.
Mustafa Akyol, a prominent Turkish columnist, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, “The fact that the attack came right after the Turkish-Israeli deal might be not an accident — if ISIS is that fast in response.”
Other analysts, though, noted that terrorist attacks involving multiple suicide bombers take time to prepare and are not typically attempted on very short notice.Other analysts, though, noted that terrorist attacks involving multiple suicide bombers take time to prepare and are not typically attempted on very short notice.
Some observers sought to link the attack to Turkey’s role in the conflict in neighboring Syria. “Unfortunately, we see the side effects of a disastrous Syria policy that has brought terrorism into the heart of Istanbul and Ankara,” said Suat Kiniklioglu, a former lawmaker in Istanbul. “This is obviously intended to create an atmosphere of chaos and hit the economy and tourism.” “Unfortunately, we see the side effects of a disastrous Syria policy that has brought terrorism into the heart of Istanbul and Ankara,” said Suat Kiniklioglu, a former lawmaker who is now chairman of the Center for Strategic Communication, a research organization, in Ankara. “This is obviously intended to create an atmosphere of chaos and hit the economy and tourism.”
Turkey has been rocked by a series of bombings since 2014, and they have been increasing in frequency. Officials have variously blamed Kurdish separatists or Islamic State militants for the attacks. On June 7, a police van was blown up by Kurdish separatists, killing 11 people, five of them civilians. When the attack happened, Asli Aydintasbas, a Turkey analyst and writer, was on a plane bound for Istanbul but was rerouted to Ankara, where the airport was filled with stranded and confused tourists, double-checking with airport workers that they had in fact landed in a different city.
Officials have blamed the Islamic State for several recent bombings in Turkey, including in areas of Istanbul that are popular with Western tourists. The Islamic State has generally not claimed responsibility for these attacks, though it is quick to lay claim to attacks elsewhere. Analysts believe that this reflects the group’s dependence on Turkey, the main route for foreign recruits to reach its territory in Syria. “Our world is turned upside down,” said Ms. Aydintasbas, who has chronicled Turkey’s descent in to chaos in recent years in her columns.
“The Islamic State has never claimed credit for any attacks on civilians in Turkey, as it is an advantage to the group not to,” said Veryan Khan, director of the Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium. She noted, though, that the group did claim responsibility for assassinations of opponents in southern Turkey. Referring to Istanbul, and the stature it attained in recent years as a global tourist destination, she said: “It was a happening town, cutting edge in arts and culture. It’s the kind of place that Condé Nast would write about. Now this is a Middle Eastern country where these things happen.”
Ataturk airport has expanded in recent years and is now the third busiest in Europe, after Heathrow in London and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, when ranked by the annual number of passengers.
On Monday, the State Department renewed a warning it issued three months ago advising American citizens about the danger of travel to Turkey because of terrorist threats.
“Foreign and U.S. tourists have been explicitly targeted by international and indigenous terrorist organizations,” the department said in the warning, which was posted on the State Department’s website.
In New York, security was stepped up at three major metropolitan airports after the news of the attack. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it had “added high-visibility patrols equipped with tactical weapons and equipment” at John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark Liberty airports.
People shared images and videos from Ataturk airport online, some of which were graphic in nature.