There is still confusion surrounding the tragic attack on revellers at the Reina nightclub in Istanbul.
Daesh (ISIS) is now claiming responsibility for the attack by a lone gunman which left 39 dead and 70 in hospital.
It seems the purpose of the attack was to send a message to the Turkish government.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya is former senior manager and senior intelligence officer with CSIS, (Canadian Security Intelligence Service). He is currently CEO of North Gate, an intelligence consultancy company.
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Juneau-Katsuya says Turkey previously had been kept more or less out of the line of fire by Daesh as the country was used as a conduit to funnel foreigners into Syria to join Daesh.
Although there had been some terrorist attacks, Daesh had not previously claimed responsibility.
He says that the situation changed when Turkey joined Russia and Syria in talks to create a ceasefire. He says that now, by claiming responsibility, Daesh is signalling to Turkey and to its own supporters that the country is now their enemy.
While Daesh wants to send this message to Turkish leaders, Juneau-Katsuya says it will likely not have the desired effect of causing Turkey to withdraw from ceasefire talks or attacks on Daesh, but may indeed have the opposite effect, and cause the country to put more pressure on the terror group.
The deadly attack took place in spite of massive police and military presence in the country.
Juneau-Katsuya says that it’s almost impossible to stop these kinds of attacks by lone individuals as they require relatively little planning, very small groups. Such attacks are not elaborate, require no real training and can be carried out quickly. All that’s needed he says, is someone who is committed and has access or get access to a weapon, whether it be a vehicle, a gun, or a homemade bomb.
He also points out there is a great difference between a criminal gang and a terrorist group. He says there is even a difference between Al Qaeda and Daesh.
While Al Qaeda may have grievances that could theoretically be addressed through negotiation, that is not the case with Daesh which has a rigid ideological goal.
He says while one can never completely eliminate such terrorist acts, what could certainly help is a higher degree of cooperation among the world’s various security forces both domestically and internationally.
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