Weddings, in every culture as far as I am aware, are cause for celebration. No one expects the day to turn deadly. But that is exactly what happened in a small border town in Turkey adjacent to Syria. Gaziantep, on Sunday, became the latest site of terror in Turkey, where more than 300 people have been killed in terrorist attacks since June last year. In this wedding tragedy at least 54 died, many of them young children.
Fifteen major attacks in the past year have been carried out by either Kurdish or Islamic State perpetrators. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blamed Daesh for the Sunday attack, even though the Islamic State has not yet claimed responsibility. The New York Times reports some interesting analysis. “While the Kurdish attacks have mainly targeted the police and members of the military, the Islamic State attacks have mostly struck at civilians in popular places.”
I put it to you that the Daesh strategy of murdering civilians is symptomatic of the Islamic State’s propensity to ignore the basic teachings of the Qu’ran, preferring instead to corrupt the sacred Islamic teachings. Daesh is a perversion of Muslim faith.
It should perhaps be understood that Turkey is essentially a secular Muslim country. That fact alone must be understood as sufficient reason by Daesh to carry our terrorism in that state. Their corrupted interpretation of the Islamic scripture makes everyone within Turkey an enemy.
Translate this idea to the rest of the world. If anyone is not a supporter of the aims and goals of the Islamic State, that is, to establish a world-wide Islamic regime, then all those are enemies subject to a death penalty. That is the fundamental attitude and motivation of Daesh. Surely this is reason enough to put Daesh out of commission.
All of my blog postings are opinion based upon verifiable facts, as seen in journalistic reporting efforts. I am aware that journalistic efforts also include opinion, but I think the facts are there to be seen and understood. When I wrote my novel The Chechen’s Revenge and write in my work in progress A Prairie Vendetta, my opinion is at the forefront. It is fiction based to some degree on the historicity of terroristic and confrontational events. In A Prairie Vendetta I examine the manifestation of a small group of homegrown terrorists incited by the warped beliefs of a megalomaniac who believes completely he is the chosen one to accomplish the purpose of Louis Riel, a Canadian Metis. Riel aimed to achieve real and thorough equality for his people, challenging the Canadian Federal Government in several historic confrontations. He was not entirely successful.
The antagonist is known as The Mountain. He is willing to resort to any means to achieve his ends. The abiding question is of course: Do the ends justify the means?
The writing is slow but I am making progress. I hope to be finished later this year, but that should probably not be taken as an absolute promise. A variety of household projects have interrupted my writing schedule. Most of that is done, thought a few smaller projects remain. Big sigh here.
In the mean time, Thanks for your support friends. Good Reading.
Regards
Ron Stotyn, PhD 
I am a retired college professor and former broadcast journalist. I live in Vermont with my wife. I write near the shores of Lake Champlain. As an author I cast characters in the task of anti-terrorism efforts. The setting for my stories is Canada. My first novel is The Chechen's Revenge, a story of Sean-Guy O'Dwyer-Lariviere and his team of Canadian Anti-terrorism Service agents on the trail of a rebel Chechen, determined to create havoc and death on Toronto's Go Train system. The Chechen's Revenge is now in print and can be ordered online at https://mkt.com/northof49publishing.
ron stotyn's northof49blog 
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