Alfonse D'Amato

ISIS attack has awakened the sleeping tiger that is Turkey

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Despite being attacked numerous times by terrorists in less than a year, Turkey was never overly aggressive against the Islamic State and its barrage of terror. Now, unfortunately, Turks have paid the price.

Just over a week ago, dozens were killed and more than 200 injured when three attackers blew themselves up in the Istanbul airport. The attack had ISIS written all over it. ISIS had to make its mark in another country, and as we went to press, senior U.S. counterterrorism officials had told media sources that it was very likely the attack was the work of an ISIS fighter sent to Turkey to attack during Ramadan.

The Turkish leadership is now ready to join full force against ISIS. Turkey is a large part of the U.S.-led coalition against the terrorist organization, but more of a silent partner. It didn’t have any defining event to stir its citizens up about ISIS, until now.

The Islamic State has lost a significant amount of territory in Syria and Iraq, most recently with the fall of Fallujah, and this may have been an attempt to send a message to the people of Turkey that the terrorists aren’t going anywhere, and are still fully capable of committing such attacks.

For years, the Turkish government has looked the other way as ISIS troops used Turkey as the staging point to wage war against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Now Turkey is dealing with the consequences of looking the other way while all of that was going on, and while ISIS was radicalizing thousands in the region.

What is most important to take away from last week’s attack is that it is clearer now that there is an imminent threat that an assault like it could take place on U.S. soil. The FBI currently has thousands of people under surveillance here in the U.S. for their possible ties to ISIS. But a lone-wolf or copycat attack is hard to prevent.

Another factor complicating our strategy against ISIS is President Obama’s lack of strategy. It appears that he is more than willing to just ride out his tenure in acceptance of the status quo. Our nation’s foreign policy under Obama has been pretty much nonexistent, but who can forget his claiming that ISIS was “junior varsity”?

He’s still afraid to refer to lSIS and its ilk as “Islamic terrorists.” This does not help ease the fears of Americans who are concerned about traveling or gathering at soft targets such as malls.

We know who the enemy is, and we have to destroy them. The U.S. must immediately begin to be more accommodating to Sunni concerns and try to win Sunni support in Syria. This doesn’t just mean toppling the Islamic State: We must also take Syrian President Assad — who has killed more innocent Sunnis than ISIS — out of power.

Obama can no longer act like a lame duck and wait this situation out. American lives are at risk, and the clock is ticking before another attack takes place on American soil. Airstrikes can only do so much. Although it will no doubt be controversial, we must put more American forces on the ground, on the front lines, to combat ISIS. That is the only way we will eliminate it.

Last week’s attack will turn Turkey into a strong power in the war against ISIS. Turkey is already taking steps to reverse the geopolitical isolation it created in the past. Since the airport bombing it has restored diplomatic ties with Israel, and has begun talks with Russia in the wake of its shoot-down of a Russian warplane last November.

Still, the world looks to us for leadership, and we must use this momentum to seriously weaken and hopefully destroy ISIS.

In a brief note on local news, June 28 was another primary day across the state. On Long Island, there was a closely watched race in which five Democrats faced off for the right to battle State Sen. Jack Martins to replace U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, and former Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi was victorious.

Although Martins, a Republican, isn’t as widely known across the county as Suozzi, he is certainly known in North Hempstead for his outstanding work as mayor of Mineola and as a three-term state senator. In a presidential election year with a strong Democratic candidate, this will be one of the races to watch.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.