First responders on the scene of the New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in Istanbul. Credit: AP/via guardian.co.uk.

A New Year’s Eve celebration at the Reina night club in Istanbul, Turkey ended in bloodshed, when terrorists, including at least one assailant dressed in a Santa Claus costume, attacked, leaving 35 partiers dead and at least 40 more wounded.

Many details are unknown at this point, including the number of attackers and the reason for the assault.  Reports are that there were anywhere from 500 to 800 people at the club when the attack began, some of whom may have jumped into the nearby Bosporous Strait, which separates the continents of Europe and Asia, to escape. The Turkish Dogan News Agency reported that some of the survivors claimed that the attackers were “speaking Arabic”.

The Governor of Istanbul, Vasip Şahin, in a statement issued to reporters, indicated that there may have only been one attacker. He stated that “a terrorist with a long-range weapon” killed a policeman and a civilian outside the club before entering and firing on people inside. “Unfortunately, [he] rained bullets in a very cruel and merciless way on innocent people who were there to celebrate New Year’s and have fun.” Governor Şahin did not indicate who he believed was responsible for the attack.

The New York Times reports that Mehmet Kocarslan, the owner of the nightclub, said that there had been “increased security measures for the past ten days” after U.S. intelligence had warned of an attack. He also reported that the attackers used Kalashnikov rifles.

The Guardian states that so far, at least one attacker has been reported killed.

This attack is just the latest in a series of terror attacks that have taken place in Europe. Earlier, a Tunisian terrorist attacked a Christmas shopping market in Berlin, Germany, while a Turkish police officer murdered Andrey Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey in an apparent protest over that country’s policies in Syria.

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46 COMMENTS

  2. Oh hey, look that religion of peace that leftists keep justifying for some reason. I can’t wait to prosecute it into the stone age.

    • All religion needs to be destroyed but I’d definitely do away with Christianity first then move to Islam as Muslims do far less damage in the US then Christians do.

      • People who say Christianity does damage to the world…. I never understood this. Christianity doesn’t do anything. Okay, they are pretty anti gay, I’ll admit that but other than that…. what? A religion that values pacifism and teaches that salvation can not be forced on others and needs to be accepted in the heart is the huge menace to the world? I reeeeeally don’t see it, considering the entirety of the western world was founded from Christian roots and it turned out pretty well.

        • “People who say Christianity does damage to the world…. I never understood this. Christianity doesn’t do anything.”

          Pick up a history book and thumb over to the chapter that dealt with ‘The Crusades’…

        • @ Geoff that is usually my first thought to mention, but I just assumed from the way it was written we were talking about current events. Saracens arent that mad about the crusades, they won.

        • Yeah. I’m talking about modern times. And the crusades were as much political as religious anyway.

          I could play that game too though. If you want to see damage atheists have done to the world, pick up a history book and look up communism…. Or just look at China today.

        • @Geoff – Forget 400 years of Muslim expansion into Christian territory, converting at the point of a sword, it was really the Christians who were the aggressors, right?

        • > converting at the point of a sword, it was really the Christians who were the aggressors, right?

          See “Baltic Crusades”. Aggression and conversion at the point of the sword aplenty there, and guess who were the perps?

        • Crusades were then, Islamic terrorism is now.
          We can’t stop the crusades, we can stop the terrorism.
          Or, we could if we had the will to do so.

        • That’s a bit out of context, int. The Slavs and Finns had been fighting the Saxons and Danes for centuries, before the latter even converted to Christianity themselves. The Baltic Crusades were just continuations of those wars with the blessing of the Pope.

          As Reggie pointed out, the most pernicious faith is atheism, historically.

        • Unfortunately modern Pope-approved crusades in Southeast Europe have been pro-Islamist (Crimean War, Balkan Wars, Yugoslav Wars), and the Croats who bridged the ideological gap between Roman Catholicism and Islamism are the same Croats who were known as the worst of the Nazis. And America and NATO helped those Nazis, because “gotta fight dem commies!” (Germany was probably really only thinking of their old feuds with Serbia) and now “muh poor oppressed brown refugees!”

      • I hereby nominate Bmp for the ‘Moron of the Year’ Award – 2016, after just squeaking in ahead of the deadline!

      • Ugh. The logical errors, they burn.

        We can quibble about the damage done by Christians, the real question is do they commit them in the name of their religion as directly commanded by their prophet, and book? No? Then you’re argument is nonsense.

        There’s a fraction of a fraction of a percent of Christians who would follow any of the garbage that their book of fairy tales tells them to do. And it’s only a hundred passages or so that are completely horrible. Nobody follows them, let alone uses them a motivator for bad behavior.

        Islam on the other hand….

        • Just to add context, those hundred or so passages are all in the Old Testament which is really more the back story for Christianity. Jesus taught peace not violence. Christians try to emulate Christ not Joshua or Samson.

        • Yeah. Just because governments that happen to be Christian do something, doesn’t really mean it is because of the teachings of Christ.

          I’m not a Christian, nor an atheist, but agnostic. Still, think I understand the religion better than most atheists. The type of violence and domination you see with Islam is not possible with Christianity, at least not the modern interpretation of Christianity. That doesn’t mean Christian governments can’t do bad things, rather the bad things they do wouldn’t be because the Bible told them to.
          Any modern Christian church would tell you that salvation is an entirely voluntary process. You could force someone to go to church and obey all the commandments out of fear, but that would not save their soul because they are not doing it out of acceptance of Christ but fear for retaliation. So by their own doctrine, Christians can only find converts through passive, and peaceful conversion. That’s why they only pass out booklets or preach on the streets. That is quite literally the only way they can save people.
          Furthermore, when Christians do attempt to spread Christianity, they are doing it as an act of compassion. They are attempting to save the lost souls who have strayed from God. People who are attempting to save others out of compassion for them, are not going to murder them, or threaten them, or abuse them. That would be counter productive as it would condemn them if they were to die before being saved, or if you abused them it would only alienate them anyway. And thus, actually, the worst thing a Christian could do to someone they hate is to tell them that their sinful life is acceptable as then they would be condemned.
          Yes, Christians can sometimes be annoying (They are not the majority, most are respectful) but you really can’t have anything like the violence that comes from Islam from them and because they are passive, anyone who disagrees with them can ignore them. Yes, they can influence other people when they vote, but for the most part they only vote for issues (like abortion or stem cell research) based on moral standards that, yes are rooted in their faith but not entirely dependent on their faith. Again, this is just in general. Of course there are minority extremists who want Bible taught in school and such but these people are laughed off.

        • Gov, the Jeebus character himself supposedly “says” many times the OT is the ‘word of god’ and to be ‘obeyed until the end of time’, or some such.

          For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass the law until all is accomplished. Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-19)

          “It is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for the smallest part of the letter of the law to become invalid.” (Luke 16:17)

          “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest part or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.” (Matthew 5:17)

          “Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.” (2 Peter 20-21)

          Believe whatever you want, just know what that particular book of fairy tales actually says.

      • I’m as irreligious as they come, but you’re not going to convince me the little old ladies baking apple pies for the church bazaar are somehow the root of all evil. That’s nonsense, it doesn’t pass the smell test.

        On the other hand, I do remember what happened the last several times in the 20th century that one government or other took it upon itself to try to eradicate religion. Words like “gulag” and “killing fields” come to mind.

  6. Puh-leese. Don’t include freakin’ Istanbul as “Europe”. Firmly Moose-lim Asia Minor. And middleeastern. Funny they were “speaking Arabic”. My whiter than white son speaks fluent Arabic. I bet they hear that a lot in Turkey…

        • Well lets face it, the Santa Clause we think of today was a creation of the Coca-Cola company in the 1930s. And he has about as much to do with the birth of Christ as the soft drink does. If you want to be a pure Christian that probably means giving up all of the ‘Christian’ holidays, they’re all heavily infected with paganism.

  7. I guess after all the hype and talk of an attack, Im surprised the holiday season wasnt MORE eventful. Who knows what the followers of Chaos have in store, blood for the blood god as usual I imagine.

    I watched this last night with my old gunny neighbor, never seen it before, but it is a GREAT FREAKIN VIDEO from a lady named Bridgette Gabriel talking about Islam. Definitely a must watch for me.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Jdv8kdhy4I

  8. There go those zainy zennies again, what’s wrong with those crazy buddhists? Oh, not THAT religion of peace…the OTHER one! Now I see…Islam is the religion of peace, as long as you read from the same book…other than that you are an infidel and need to die. Sounds peaceful. Thank god for “…do unto others..” time to treat all muslims like infidels and send their asses back to sandeater arabia and let them kill each other!

  9. they thought about dressing as muhammad but since he looked like all the other arabs and there’s no pictures of him to allow copying, Santa was the next choice (though the Easter Bunny got a lot of votes)

  11. Turkish prisons are hellholes. fear of prison did not affect this crew. they may believe that they will never be caught, or they welcome death.

    • Indeed, they welcome death; they believe they will go straight to paradise, and be presented with 72 virgins (who will remain virgins forever). So they will kill, and continue to kill, until they are killed.

  12. But Obama said this kind of thing doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. I bet the gunmen are alt-right bigots, radicalized by Trump, and got their weapons from the NRA (sarcasm)

    • Where’s that troll? He needs to come respond to this post with some irresputable “facts” to back this up.

  14. Muzzies enjoy killing each other even more than Chicago gangsters enjoy killing each other. In both cases, I have no rooting interest either way.

  15. This nightclub is where the pretty people, the elites, media celebs, rich & well-heeled foreigners go partying in Istanbul.

    This is exactly the sort of target one would expect the Salafists to target – foreigners and apostate Muslims, drinking and partying on a secular holiday.

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