After deadly attack, Turkey seeks to tackle growing terror threats

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Turkish police raced to hunt down a gunman who stormed into a glitzy waterside club in Istanbul on Sunday and fired on hundreds of New Year's revellers, the latest blow for a city that has endured numerous attacks over the last year.

The shooting rampage started just an hour into the new year when a gunman armed with a long-barrelled weapon burst into the Reina nightclub, a magnet for the city's who's who and for tourists looking to party next to the picturesque Bosphorus Strait and the massive suspension bridge that connects the European and Asian sides of the ancient city.

The sound of gunfire sparked panic as party-goers scrambled over bodies to escape, with some jumping into the frigid waters for safety. The violence, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described as a "terror attack," left at least 39 dead and injured 69 others. Among the dead were 24 foreigners, including one Canadian as well as citizens of Belgium, France, India, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

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Across Europe, security services had been on alert for New Year's festivities after a truck driven by a failed asylum-seeker careered into a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12. Just days ago, a pro-Islamic State group posted an online message calling for attacks by "lone wolves" on "celebrations, gatherings and clubs."

Some 600 people were thought to be inside the Reina club when the gunman shot dead a policeman and civilian at the door, forced his way inside and then opened fire. He escaped during the ensuing chaos.

"At first, we thought some men were fighting with each other," said a Lebanese woman who gave her name as Hadeel and who was in the club with her husband and a friend. "Then we heard the sound of the gunfire and ducked under the tables.

"We heard the guy screaming Allahu Akbar [God is Greatest], all three of us heard that. We heard his footsteps crushing the broken glass," she told Reuters. "We got out through the kitchen, there was blood everywhere and bodies."

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and officials did not name any suspects.

Mr. Erdogan vehemently condemned "the terror attack in Istanbul's Ortakoy neighbourhood in the first hours of 2017.

"Turkey will stand together and not give passage to dirty games of terrorists," he said.

"Terror cannot frighten us," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said. "We will frighten terror away."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered condolences to the victims of the attack. "We mourn with the people of Turkey today and with all countries who lost citizens in this vicious attack," he said. "We also grieve the senseless loss of a Canadian citizen and remain steadfast in our determination to work with allies and partners to fight terrorism and hold perpetrators to account."

Turkey is involved in the Syrian conflict – targeting the Islamic State and Kurdish groups – and it is now a key part of a shaky ceasefire there negotiated with Russia.

For many residents of Istanbul, the defiance from Turkish leaders brought back traumatic memories of attacks the city has faced in 2016. Dozens were killed during gun and bomb attacks on the city's main airport last June and outside a soccer stadium last month.

"[Now] the terror is creeping closer and closer to us," one resident of Ortakoy said. "They don't seem to be able to stop it."

The city appeared as divided as ever on Sunday, in the hours after the shooting. Istanbul – along with the rest of the country – must face twin threats from the Islamic State group and the Kurdish insurgency at a time when Turkish society is deeply polarized.

"Ortakoy is a special, close-knit neighbourhood where everyone knows each other, but now, with this chaos, people are starting to be afraid of each other," said local shop-owner Tambi Yahya, in his empty natural-products store on Sunday.

Mr. Erdogan, who is backed by roughly half of the population, has cracked down harshly on dissent and a free press in the past year as he attempts to consolidate power. Meanwhile, Turkish society is grappling with a massive refugee crisis from the Syrian conflict, a struggling economy and growing suspicions over the spike in violence.

A blame game has developed in once-peaceful neighbourhoods such as Ortakoy. Those who oppose the Islamist government believe its policies to give religion a greater role in Turkish society have empowered extremists. Those who back Mr. Erdogan blame a long list of real and perceived opponents to his quest to restore Turkey to its former Ottoman great-power status.

The Ortakoy neighbourhood – once an island of serenity amid the growing troubles enveloping Istanbul – got its first taste of chaos on July 15 last summer, during a failed coup against the government and Mr. Erdogan.

Rebel soldiers and police turned the area into a battleground. One of the bloodiest battles that night took place on the Bosphorus bridge directly above the flashy nightclub that was targeted on Sunday.

In the wake of that attack, some pointed a finger at the government, others at an array of foreign enemies – most notably the United States, which some media reports said had issued advance warning to the club owner. The U.S. embassy in Turkey denied the reports.

Some observers struggled to find common ground for unity after the attack, which media reports have blamed on the Islamic State group.

Across political lines, however, heavy on most minds was how the violence was threatening to rip the fragile fabric of their society apart.

In the past year, foreigners and Turks with skills have been leaving. Those who stay often confine their movements between their homes and workplaces.

The cobblestone alleys of Ortakoy, a usually vibrant Bosphorus-side neighbourhood that was once the vacation spot of Ottoman sultans and the home of artists and craftsmen, were deserted on Sunday, save for a few onlookers, local politicians and large contingents of police and media.

With a report from Reuters and Associated Press