IF it were in their power, militants would turn Turkey into another Iraq or Syria. On Sunday, Ankara was targeted for the third time in five months when an area close to the diplomatic enclave was bombed, leaving at least 34 dead, though there was no official word yet about who could be behind the atrocity.

This year there have been six blasts, including one in the capital city a month ago when the car bombing of a military convoy killed 28 people.

The crime was claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a breakaway group of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

However, there is little doubt which militant group was behind the January carnage in Istanbul when a suicide bomber exploded himself in Sultanahmet, killing 10 people, eight of them foreign tourists, prompting Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to pledge Turkey would not “backtrack in its struggle against” the militant Islamic State group.

There is no doubt Ankara is facing one of the worst crises in decades because there are no signs yet of all parties to the Syrian conflict agreeing on a common peace formula. Most unfortunately, the ceasefire with the PKK stands shattered.

On top of all this is the flood of Syria refugees, 2.5 million of whom Turkey has accommodated. Ankara now has to listen to European grievances and halt the refuges’ exodus to Europe — a tough and highly unpleasant task in the midst of the grave humanitarian crisis in Turkey’s underbelly.

There is no quick-fix solution. Turkey has to renew efforts to seek a ceasefire with the PKK and mobilise all its resources to strengthen Mr Davutoglu’s resolve to crush IS terrorism.

Focusing on the Kurds is taking the attention away from the threat that is the IS. Above all, the AKP-led government must try to be more tolerant of criticism and soften the authoritarian tendencies often seen in its policies.

Without a national consensus and a placid domestic scene a determined fight against terrorism is inconceivable.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2016