Three dead in Nice: “Erdogan shares political responsibility for these attacks”

Three dead in Nice, one truefor1st knife attack in Avignon and attack on a guard at the French embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. For the Middle East and Islam, the expert Guido Steinberg of the Foundation for Science and Politics these alleged Islamist attacks have the same background: “This is the new dispute between Turkey and France over the cartoons of Mohammed and the murder of the French teacher near Paris two weeks ago” (S.iehe Box under).

In recent days, the debate had been intensified by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the dispute with France over the cartoons of Mohammed and the freedom of expression, he accused some countries of “relaunching the crusades”. These are planned by Western states attacking Islam. Preparing for attacks on the Prophet Muhammad is “a matter of honor”. Middle East expert Steinberg does not accept this criticism: “Erdogan does not recognize that France is not pursuing a policy hostile to Islam, but rather a policy hostile to Islamism”.

With his statements, Erdogan had attracted even more public attention to dthat is Vignette of Mohammed – even if he had not dealt with the murder of the French teacher. “Then ittthe impression was that the real problem was the cartoons, not the murderin»Says Steinberg. And again: “In recent days this has fueled resentment against France in Muslim countries. In this regard, Erdogan shares political responsibility for the ongoing attacks “.

The conflict between Turkey and France revolves only superficially around the caricatures of Mohammed, so Steinberg. Indeed, the dispute between NATO allies has far more variety, whether in the conflict in the eastern Mediterranean, where France shows solidarity with Greece and Cyprus, or in the conflict in Libya, where Paris and Ankara support each other.

It remains to be seen how France will react to the latest knife attacks. Steinberg: “But Paris will certainly have to react and defend secularism and freedom of expression”. Now there is a risk that man see the copycat attacks in Europe. “We shouldn’t be surprised if this continues,” says Steinberg.

The difference to the “terror years” from 2014 to 2017, however, is that there is no strong terrorist organization pulling the strings in the background. The minor Knife attacks are probably perpetrated by the so-called “lone wolves”. “Organizations like IS have existed since 2018 they are no longer capable of organizing or directing international attacks: our security services, which have learned a lot since then, are dealing with them. ”

Again: «The Islamist IThe deology is also more prevalent in Western Europe, so we must not delude ourselves. “As a result of the refugee policy, the number of jihadists has increased, whether in France, Germany or Scandinavia.” Not many people sacrifice their lives for a cartoon of Mohammed. I guess there aren’t a dozen people together. ” Yet: Ultimately, the goal is to force Western society to overreact – and this is what knife attacks are suitable for. “In these moments, the enormous explosive power that results from the opposition between the jihadists and the majority societies becomes evident,” says Steinberg.