ISIS to blame for Istanbul airport bombing, says Turkish prime minister
Turkey's prime minister blames ISIS for Tuesday's attack on Istanbul's Ataturk International Airport that killed dozens and injured hundreds, including one Canadian.
"This attack bore all of the hallmarks of al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jihadi, you know, a type of terrorist attack. The suicide bomb aspect of it, the extremely horrific high profile aspect of it ... the targeting of innocent and foreigners," says Borzou Daragahi, a Middle East correspondent for BuzzFeed in Istanbul.
Ataturk International Airport is the third biggest in Europe and has become not just a regional but an international hub.
"Istanbul is an important hub; it's a gateway for central Asia, it's a gateway to North Africa … it's become such a crucial transit point in the Middle East and other parts of the world," Daragahi tells The Current's host Mike Finnerty.
He says Istanbul will be opening up a third airport due to the amount of traffic Ataturk International Airport receives on a daily basis.
Asil Aydintasbas, a journalist based in Istanbul, tells Mike Finnerty that attacks are becoming routine for citizens.
"In some strange and rather twisted way, we have come to expect attacks and … suicide bombings in Turkey."
She adds, "It's one tragedy after another … and I hate saying this but one does get used to it."
Aydintasbas says the daily routines of citizens just include the expectation of an attack.
"In terms of our lives and the way we conduct our lives, terrorism has become, within a year, a daily reality," Aydintasbas said.
Turkey has seen several bombings in recent months linked to Kurdish or Islamic State militants. The bombings include two in Istanbul targeting tourists, which the authorities have blamed on the Islamic State group.
Aydintasbas sees the targeting of Turkey and Turkish civilians as a layered issue.
"Both ISIS and the Kurdish group are transnational problems, not just security issues … that involve multiple countries and they are intertwined, the two issues."
When the Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim toured an Istanbul hospital recently to visit the wounded, one patient cried out: "You have turned us into Syria!"
Daragahi points to the same reason why he says Turkey has turned into "a logistics hub and battlefied."
"There's just one reason for all of this is Syria and the implosion of Syria and the spreading of Syria's wars into Turkey."
This segment was produced by The Current's Sarah Grant.