On September 11, 2001, a 22-year-old student was killed by a suicide bomber.
That terror attack was not in New York, but Istanbul.
The victim was Amanda Rigg, an Australian who came here to learn Turkish.
One day ago, a suicide bomber had exploded himself in Taksim district, instantly killing two policemen and injuring twenty people. Seven of them were seriously injured civilians, including Amanda. She passed away the next day, around afternoon, almost at the same time with the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York.
With the 9/11 attacks in New York, the 9/10 attacks in Istanbul were forgotten. On September 12, 2001, all Turkish newspapers were full of stories about New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Amanda the Istanbulian were out of news bulletins in just a day, like her loss wouldn't be commemorated in public ceremonies after a decade, unlike the victims of 9/11.
Amanda's murderers were belonged to DHKP-C, a Marxist-Leninist organization similar to PKK, and they were being protected by several EU countries -especially Belgium- before Amanda died, like it would be after her death.
Although both of them are internationally designated as terrorist organizations, many people outside Turkey tend to see DHKP-C and PKK militants as freedom fighters, emphasizing that they generally attack military targets.
While the Australian government provided support to the families of the victims of the Bali bombings and London terrorist attacks, Amanda's family said they received nothing.
Amanda Rigg
"Ten years after the 9/11 attacks, Islamic militancy remains a global threat against which the world must unite," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today.
And he added: "That Al Qaeda attack on the United States marked the peak of a wave of terrorist attacks, which nevertheless continued in Madrid, London, Bali and Mumbai."
Is this the full list?
On November 15 and November 20, 2003, four truck bombs which were sent by Al Qaida had killed 57 and injured 700 in downtown Istanbul.
Netanyahu didn't mention the Istanbul attacks, even though six Jews who were praying in synagogues were among the victims.
All of them were forgotten, like Amanda.
Istanbul, 2003
It is a cliché, but terrorism has really no religion and no ethnicity.
Each life is sacred and all of them, especially those like Amanda that we sacrificed too soon, should be blessed.
In order to do it, the hypocrisy and the double-standards on terrorism especially in western Europe and the United States must come to an end.
Then, mournful people can come closer to understanding each other's loss and start pushing their politicians to work together to drain the swamp, instead of looking for mosquitoes of different breeds.
So today, I remember not only the victims of the 9/11, but also those of the 9/10, with respect and reflection.
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