By Burak Bekdil
- Before the bodies of Israeli victims were carried to their homeland, the Turkish make-up showed signs of falling apart and the ugly reality emerged.
- "Let the Israeli citizens be worse, I wish they all died." — Irem Aktas, head of the women's and media division of the AKP party branch in Istanbul's Eyup district.
- Aktas's mistake was probably to express publicly what millions of Turks only thought, but did not say, in the face of a suicide bomb attack.
Istanbul's Istiklal Avenue, in the aftermath of the March 19 suicide bombing. (Image source: Sky News video screenshot)
The bomb attack in Istanbul on the morning of March 19 was the fifth similar act of terror targeting two of Turkey's biggest -- Istanbul and Ankara -- since October.
The suicide bomber, a 24-year-old with links to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), detonated his explosives on Istiklal Avenue, one of Istanbul's busiest streets and a popular tourist attraction. Three Israeli tourists (two of them also carrying U.S. passports) and one Iranian were killed. Dozens of wounded people were rushed to nearby hospitals. The death toll since October was now at nearly 200, including 14 tourists.
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