Making The Choice

Terror attacks aim to provoke fear and chaos among society and to influence a government's decisions. Terror attacks are also some kind of "invitation," as terrorist groups are perfectly aware that their actions will spark some kind of violent response, in other words, anti-terror operations.
Taliban militants attacked a school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar last week, murdering scores of children. To justify their attack, the Taliban declared that it was a response to the Pakistani government's anti-terror operations which have, supposedly, targeted Taliban families in the tribal areas on the Afghan-Pakistani border. It is hard to understand this logic. Were Taliban leaders really unaware what kind of reaction killing children would arouse around the world? The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has similar methods: Recently, the terrorist organization executed scores of women whose only crime was to refuse to marry ISIL militants.
Killing unarmed, innocent, weak civilians, especially women and children, is proof of these organizations' monstrous character. But why are these organizations so eager to show the world that they are evil? Maybe they are in some sort of contest, to determine which of these organizations are the most horrific. As they are pursuing an asymmetric war, they are probably trying to show that they are capable of killing and are a threat to any regular and powerful army.
Terrorist organizations never choose their targets accidentally, and they have the potential international response on their minds when preparing their plans. We know that an international coalition, headed by the United States, is pursuing an operation against terrorism in a vast area, including Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. When he came to power, US President Barack Obama declared that these costly operations were not successful and that the US had to change its strategy by pulling back its troops. The Obama administration had suggested that it is essentially the duty of the governments in the region to eradicate these terrorist organizations.
However, it became clear over time that the US had no chance of calling their troops back from the region as quickly as expected. After such a hideous attack, how can the US refuse Pakistan's call for help? By the way, the Pakistani government will not be able to pursue the negotiations with the Taliban, either. In brief, we will see more international interventions and tougher military measures in the region. As for Pakistan, the country will have to get closer to the Western alliance.
A softer version of this process is in motion in Turkey, as well. The political atmosphere is encouraging the government's opponents to cooperate and look more and more towards the West. Even the main opposition party, which is traditionally suspicious of foreign powers, keeps talking about EU integration. This makes the current government look more "Eastern."
The difference in the case of Pakistan is that in Turkey, it is not the government, but the opposition who gets closer to the West. This is interesting as it comes at a time when some circles in Turkey have developed the habit of believing that everything that goes wrong in Turkey is the West's fault.
We can predict two opposite scenarios for the days ahead: Either Turkey will distance itself from the West, getting closer to the China-Russia axis, or new developments will show everyone that drifting away from the West will be too costly for Turkey and that it has to counter that movement. In a way, it will be forced to do so.
It is not easy to row against the tide at a time when the US is determined to punish Russia as well as a number of European countries; when the Taliban, Boko Haram and ISIL keep killing innocent people; and when Russia is turning its face progressively towards Asia. If Turkey hesitates in making its choice, foreign powers will finally push it to make a choice.

BERİL DEDEOĞLU (Cihan/Today's Zaman)