The Reina massacre, religion and rage

We entered the New Year with the horrific massacre carried out in Istanbul's popular night club Reina. Savagery, cowardice, barbaric and cruel... This is where words fail. At least 39 innocent people have been brutally massacred only because they attended a New Year's celebration. May God rest their souls in peace. I share the pain of their loved ones.

All terror acts are of course condemned, they are of course protested. The distinctive nature of the terror committed in Reina is that it was a "massacre on lifestyle." Innocent people having fun were massacred because of their lifestyles.

The common protest phrases that are constantly used for terror acts, the calls for unity and togetherness should not oversee the "lifestyle" factor, because if rage is fed and maintained through lifestyles or life choices then unfortunately only taking security measures will not be adequate to prevent the emergence of such barbarians.

The other day, I was reading a mind-opening piece by theologian Professor Mustafa Öztürk on daily Karar. Professor Öztürk said, "In the Islamic world, particularly on the territory of Turkey, religion has almost turned into a rage ideology." He repeated this phrase a couple of times.

The increasingly spreading disgraces such as "stigmatizing, defamation, killing of reputation and hitting under the belt in the name of criticism" also find their way in media.

Professor Öztürk stated that the cycle of violence generated by terror organizations such as the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), al-Nusra and Hashd al-Shaabi with so-called Islamic references also stem from rage.

On the first day of the year, the government's spokespeople have condemned the...