As someone who has a strong attachment to Turkey, I am deeply saddened by the string of bombings that have torn through the country in the past few months. What saddens me more is that while this amazing country is suffering at the hands of terrorism, it somehow takes a back seat to Europe's suffering. When Charlie Hebdo was murdered, the West responded with #JeSuisCharlie. When the Bataclan attacks occurred, everyone donned a French flag filter on their profile picture and responded with #PrayForParis. Yet for Ankara? Only a few of us here in the West expressed our support.
The most recent attack on Brussels resulted in the West expressing their sorrow for and solidarity the Belgian people. Yet where was the support when Ankara was attacked not once, but twice in the recent months? Only a trickle of solidarity compared to the river of support that the Western world gives to Europe.
Turkey is just an example. I wonder many condolence statuses on Facebook were posted about the tragedy that occurred in Peshawar, Pakistan that left fifteen dead on March 15? I certainly didn't see any being posted. For the past few decades, terrorist attacks that have routinely torn though both the Middle East and Africa, which have desensitized the West quite badly. When we flick on the news and read about another bombing in Damascus, we seem to just sort of shrug and say “Well, that’s just the way life is over there.”
When did we stop becoming so dispassionate about the rest of the world’s suffering? How come we seem to feel that our suffering takes precedence over theirs? The moment the West is dealt a blow by terrorism, Westerners takes to the streets beating their breasts and mourning the dead while expecting that everyone else express their condolences for the victims. French suffering is no more important than Belgian, Turkish or Pakistani suffering, yet nobody seems to want to honor that by giving forth equal amounts of solidarity and support. We need to step out of this little bubble that we live in as Westerners and remember that non-Westerners are just as relevant as we are. All I’m asking is that we try to spread the love a little more evenly towards everybody else. If you can take two minutes to post a status expressing your solidarity with France or Belgium, you can just as easily take another two minutes to express yours with Turkey or Pakistan.
#SpreadTheLove
