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State Dept. Issues Turkey Travel Warning

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Janice L Jacobs, a State Department spokesperson, warned of rising terrorist threats.
Janice L Jacobs, a State Department spokesperson, warned of rising terrorist threats.
In recognition of the heightened risk of violence and terrorist attacks, as well as souring relations with the West, the State Department has added Turkey to its “Do Not Travel“ list. The State Department website proclaims in bold letters that “There have been violent attacks throughout Turkey, and there is a continuing threat of terrorist actions and violence against U.S. citizens and interests throughout Turkey”.

The warning goes on to caution US citizens regarding Turkish anti-religious sentiment, particularly pertaining to Israelis in the aftermath of the Mavi Marmara Flotilla disaster of 2010.

“In addition to terrorist activities, there have been instances of religious violence targeting individuals in Turkey working as religious missionaries or viewed as having proselytized for a non-Islamic religion. Threats and actual instances of crime have targeted Christian and Jewish individuals, groups, and places of worship in Turkey, including several high-profile murders of Christians over the last decade. The level of anti-Israeli feeling remains significant following Israel’s 2008 Gaza offensive. Turkish officials expressly said they excluded Jewish people, in Turkey and elsewhere, from their criticism of the Government of Israel in the wake of the intervention by Israeli Defense Forces on the Free Gaza Flotilla in May 2010.”

Israel has followed its larger ally’s example and issued a warning of their own. According to a report by the Jerusalem Post, the Counter-Terrorism Bureau of the Prime Minister’s Office issued a travel advisory toward upcoming holiday travelers. “The upcoming holidays, Rosh Hashana [September 5- 6] and Succot [September 19- 27] are likely to be a target for terrorist organizations to carry out attacks against Israel and Jewish targets abroad,” the advisory said on Monday.

The warning grouped together Nigeria, Azerbaijan, and Kenya with Turkey as locales with high risk of holiday-time attacks. The advisory also pointed out that the anniversary of September 11, 2001, the date of the largest attack by terrorist group Al-Qaida, falls out over the holidays.

A “basic” level of concrete threat has been leveled against Egypt and Jordan, and citizens have been urged to avoid them. The PMO has taken a more critical stance regarding Sinai region, which Israelis have been advised to vacate the immediately. The desert region has become increasingly perilous ever since the Arab Spring, when terrorist factions, many affiliated with Al-Qaida, have set up camp in the no man’s land between Israel and Egypt.

Israelis and Jews are advised to leave Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan immediately; to leave Algeria, Djibouti, Mauritania, Libya, Tunisia, Indonesia, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast, Togo, Mali, Malaysia and Pakistan as soon as possible, and to not include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Morocco and Oman in their holiday travel plans.

The warning against traveling to Turkey was upgraded because of information that terrorists were planning an attack on Israeli and Jewish targets. That alert was downgraded a short time later to an advisory to refrain from “nonessential” travel.

The advisory said Hezbollah was still trying to avenge the 2008 killing of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh.

Turkey, a traditionally secular country ever since the tenure of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk as President of the Turkish Republic, has been leaning decidedly Islamic under the supervision of Recep Tayyep Erdogan. Erdogan, who has been Prime Minister since 2003, has alienated former allies through his vocal anti-Israeli and American sentiments. The Jewish Voice recently published a piece regarding the Turkish president’s take on the current upheaval in Egypt, which he blames on Israel. He also blamed Turkey’s struggling economy on an imagined shadowy international cabal of Jewish financiers.

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