Sunday, March 13. 37 people were killed in Ankara, Turkey. A bomb exploded next to a bus station in the busy Turkish capital, yet no one is discussing it. Sadly, this is not the first terrorist attack Ankara has been through. It is not even the first the city has experienced in a year. Since October 2015, Ankara has experienced three tragic suicide bombings, killing a total of 168 civilians. But where is their media coverage? James Taylor, a man who lives in Ankara, posted a statement about the attacks to Facebook which has since gone viral, stating that, “you were Charlie, you were Paris. Will you be Ankara?”
His statement raises an uncomfortable, yet necessary question: will we? Over the last two years, Paris has seen horrific tragedy in regards to terrorism. After the Charlie Hebdo attacks, the world held vigils and tributes to the victims, chanting “Je suis Charlie” to show their solidarity. After the Paris attacks in November, the world “stood with Paris”, and Facebook even launched an app to decorate its user’s profile pictures with the French flag to show support.
Is your timeline full of the Turkish flag? Are celebrities tweeting their condolences? Were you even aware of the magnitude of the attacks? No, probably not. Paris suffered, Ankara suffered, but why is only one worthy of being mourned?
Tragedies should never be compared or a competition, it should never be “which tragedy was worse? Which was more deserving of being mourned?” But when there is a complete lack of public response, comparisons start to be drawn.
Colin Vanelli (10) points out that, “Paris is a well known, universally loved, Western city. While Ankara may be the capital, it is not very well known outside of Turkey. It is unfortunate that one tragedy was felt worldwide while one went unheard of, but it is not uncommon for Western tragedies to gain more media traction.”
It is an unfortunate, but also generally accepted idea that Western tragedies have more “magnitude” than all other tragedies. It is time for this ideal to end, for heartbreaking moments to be felt and reacted to equally.
It is not a competition, it never is, but do not let these events go unseen. Stand with Ankara as much as you stood for Paris, show your support to more than just a city, show your support to victims everywhere.
In a revolutionary era in which minority groups and less-recognised parties are actively seeking and being granted visibility, it is incredibly important to remember our individual roles in the process. Though our single support may seem minute, it is the collective force of thousands of individuals doing what little they can that truly catalyses change to occur.
We must not sit back idly and wait for change to simply happen; our generation is the most connected of all preceding us, and we have the power to to bring immediate relevance to any issue we so desire. It is imperative that with the power that has been granted to us by being born into such a revolutionary world, we use it efficiently and effectively to bring awareness to every human being, regardless of physical location, appearance or differing beliefs.
At our core, we deserve goodness from those around us, and in the tremendously saddening instances in which our fellow humans are not treated justly, we must take a stand to assure those victimised as well as ourselves that humanity is not a foreign concept. Young as we are, we are strong and well-read and aware, and just as we are Charlie Hebdo and we stand in solidarity with the Paris attacks, we are also Ankara and the countless others being threatened by the injustices of everyday.
Hanna W and Sofia M
