Is the Nice terror attack linked to Turkish gov’t incitement? – analysis
A terrorist attack against a church in France followed a week of Turkish incitement, including the use of mass media in Turkey to push for “retaliation” against France, such as boycotts, attacks on French President Emmanuel Macron, insults and rants directed by Turkey against a French magazine and comparison of France to the “Crusades.”It appeared on Thursday that Ankara had succeeded in radicalizing at least one person to attack a church in France. France24 said that a “man wielding a knife on Thursday killed three people and injured several others in an attack at the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Nice in southern France.” Nice’s mayor called it an act of terrorism. The National in the UAE said the methods used to murder one of those in the church were “those used against the brave teacher.” This is a reference to teacher Samuel Paty, beheaded almost two weeks ago by a teenager after the father of a student incited against him for allegedly showing cartoons in class.Turkey has launched an incitement campaign, run by its ruling AK Party and driven by its pro-government media machine such as Daily Sabah, Anadolu and TRT, targeting France. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has incited against Macron, claiming he is mentally deranged, even as Turkey threatened legal action against the Charlie Hebdo magazine for publishing cartoons. Ankara has tried to push this crisis, even though the cartoons were published five years ago, to claim it is “defending Islam.” This has led to protests in Bangladesh and elsewhere by far-right Islamists, part of the Muslim Brotherhood networks that Ankara’s ruling party is linked to. The goal of Turkey is to create a crisis with France and leverage young people who are susceptible to radicalization to carry out attacks as a way of trying to force Paris to do what Ankara wants. In the past, Turkey has invaded most of its neighbors and attacked peaceful protesters in Washington, as well as carrying out extrajudicial assassinations and renditions from Europe and Syria. French officials have said that Islamist extremists must be stopped and that radicals need to be confronted. Turkey has latched on to this to fuel a crisis that has now led to a deadly terrorist attack.
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