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Norway's Turks fear more violence after Oslo massacre
The head of the Federation of Turkish Associations of Norway, Hatice Elmacıoğlu, told Today's Zaman in an e-mail interview that support expressed in online forums for the ideas in a 1,500-page manifesto written in English by Anders Behring Breivik, the gunman who carried out both of Friday's attacks, is worrying. “We are most certainly worried, especially if he [Breivik] is allowed to put on a show like this. It is really scary to see that there were people on the Internet who supported his manifesto.”
Elmacıoğlu said the bombing of the government buildings and later the massacre on Utoya Island were recorded as one of the worst mass killings in Norwegian and in world history. “We can't believe it. Out on the streets, Norway lost its innocence; we are looking at each other suspiciously on trains.”
She said when the bomb exploded on Friday in downtown Oslo, where her office is located, she and her colleagues thought there had to be road maintenance work going on nearby. “We rushed to the window and saw thick dark smoke. It took us about half an hour to discover it was a bomb. Then there were news updates online. I left work at about 5.45 p.m. when I heard about the shootings on the island. We have seen something that we would have never believed if we hadn't lived through it. We wondered if this was a bad joke, whether if this was really happening in Norway.”
Elmacıoğlu said there were signs of increasing xenophobia but that nobody could ever believe that such an attack could come from one of their own. “There was an article warning about the [xenophobic] threat about a year ago, but nobody would imagine that a Norwegian would turn Norway into hell.”
She said in her residential area, social activities mostly emphasized the importance of multiculturalism. “I honestly haven't felt the how much far right sentiment and Islamophobia had grown until the attack.” She said the Norwegian police should do more to monitor meetings of far right groups.
She said the incident has united the people of Norway. “People showed that they will endure this attack in solidarity with their marches yesterday [Monday]. Politicians have also united. I really hope that the right-wing Progress Party (FRP) will take more careful steps from now on.” She said that as a civil society figure she has always tried to be constructive. “In fact, we once had a run-in with Freddy Hoffman while he was still at FRP but then sorted it out and had dinner together.”
Elmacıoğlu noted that Turks in Norway should also learn a lesson from the incident. “We need to be more proactive, build bridges, express ourselves more articulately and destroy Islamophobia.”
Expressing her concern over the fact that two of her friends' children from the Labor Party are still reported missing, Elmacıoğlu said: “As a mother myself, I feel terrible about this. I really do hope that they find their children safe and sound.”
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