Erkan's Field Diary

An authoritarian president and his indifference to jihadi groups has created the conditions for the terrorism that killed dozens more over the weekendSaturday’s terrorist attack on a wedding in Gaziantep in south-east Turkey killed at least 54 people and many more were injured, but as macabre as it sounds, the attack surprised few. Turkey has suffered multiple terrorist attacks in less than a year amid growing political instability (the country is still yet to recover from last month’s coup), ethnic and sectarian polarisation, and the government’s disastrous policy toward the conflict in Syria.

The threats to democracy following July’s coup attempt have to be a priority when the leaders meet this week.