Eurasia Tunnel overshadows murder of Russian envoy in Turkey

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes a speech during the opening ceremony of the Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul, Dec. 20, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Murad Sezer)

From: Al-Monitor

Turkey has not yet recovered from the shocking murder of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov on Dec. 19. The mystery surrounding the motives of the perpetrator, police officer Mevlut Altintas, and whether the country’s notorious “deep state” had any role in the episode will not be resolved for a while.

Amid such troubling uncertainty, pro-government media outlets have offered the Turkish people a respite with coverage of the Dec. 20 opening of the Eurasia Tunnel in Istanbul. The daily Star headlined its story “Service continues in spite of scoundrels,” a reference to the “masterminds” suspected of ordering Karlov’s assassination to derail Turkey’s progress with the economy and in building infrastructure. Likewise, Yeni Safak saw the opening as “The most beautiful response” to those who would like to cause chaos and disorder in their country.

Meanwhile, Turkiye, which often sides with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), emphasized the Eurasia Tunnel’s unique status (together with the Marmaray Tunnel) as a connector of the continents of Europe and Asia.

Interestingly, some pro-government media outlets ran their coverage of the tunnel opening on their front pages alongside the ongoing talks in Moscow over Syria between Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and his Russian and Iranian counterparts. Both Yeni Safak and Yeni Akit underscored how Cavusoglu, together with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, called upon the international community to respect Syria’s territorial integrity and mapped a way to end that country’s horrific civil war. The pro-AKP media’s message was consistent: Karlov’s assassination was a foreign plot. Ankara would not succumb to such machinations and would carry out its duty to work for regional peace.

But not everyone is impressed with the AKP government and its supporters’ attempts to portray terror attacks as a plot to undermine Turkey. For example, Nurcan Baysal, a columnist for the opposition website T24, warned her readers that not everything bad that happens in Turkey is a foreign-inspired scheme “to prevent [Turkish people] from riding rapid trains.” (High-speed trains are one of the AKP’s signature development projects.)

Read more...