Pathway from tranquility to violent radicalization: a case study of the 2003 Istanbul bombings

Violent radicalization is considered to be the process of adopting an extremist belief system, including the willingness to use, support, or facilitate violence as a method to affect social change. This phenomenon poses an important and serious threat worldwide. Since the attacks on the US in 2001 and around the world, popular interest in understanding the "causes of violent radicalization" resulted in an increased awareness of its processes (Hegghammer, 2006). Not only concentrating on the root causes of violent radicalization, but distinguishing them from a more moderate and mainstream perspective becomes crucial for societies and countries as well. There are several models suggesting that there are various entry points, variables and personality types that influence violent radicalization. Although current scholarship on violent radicalization is replete with studies that adapt a one-size-fits-all approach, there is a paucity of research on the determinant factors that make the ordinary individual become involved in violent action or that enable disillusionment of the individuals to go to further stages resulting in a terrorist plot. This study aims to examine the violent radicalization process from a Muslim-dominated country‘s (Turkey) perspective and argues that the phases of the violent radicalization process should be considered in a different fashion or manner than that of the West. Such a perspective will help to identify the significant features of phenomenon – such as the impact of psychosocial variables, frustration, contemporary conflicts, discourses of the violent terrorist organizations - and plan successful and effective responses. Moreover, it claims that misunderstanding key verses of Islam inevitably push moderates and otherwise tranquil individuals to involve themselves with extremist and violent terrorist organizations like the Al-Qaeda. The primary focus of the study will be on ideology, training camps and psychosocial traits that shaped the violent radicalization of the individuals in Turkey. Additionally, misinterpretations of key religious verses and consequences will be discussed. This study will use the datasets from terrorist-suspects‘ (n= 128) court-collected testimonies, which were obtained after the 2003 Istanbul Bombings. The researcher will utilize discriminant analysis to determine: (1) which of the variables are useful in predicting involvement in a violent terrorist attack; (2) how these variables might be combined into a mathematical equation to predict the most likely outcome; and (3) the accuracy of the derived equation. Findings of the analysis, policy implications and suggestions for future studies will be proposed in conclusion.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Ibrahim Sevki Eldiva