The Reina nightclub attack in Istanbul in the first hours of the new year led to a flurry of speculation on the identity of the attacker, who managed to escape and is still on the run.

The alleged attacker, who killed 39 people and wounded 68, initially was identified as a Uighur Turk and then as Kirghiz. The latest reports from security sources, however, identified him as an Uzbek national of Tajik origin named Abdulkadir Masharipov who uses the Islamic State (IS) alias Abu Mohammed Khorasani.

Masharipov did not have a residence permit and was not registered in the compulsory address notification system, but he has been living on and off in Turkey since 2011. Turkish security services trying to track him down said he could still be in Turkey, or he might have escaped to the Greek islands in the Aegean sea or gone back to Syria. Naturally, investigations are focusing on his connections in Turkey, his movements since 2011 and how long he stayed in countries abroad.

As an analyst monitoring IS activities and armed operations since the first one in Turkey — at Nigde on March 20, 2014 — I have noticed an unexpected development. The Reina attack marks the first time an intense debate has raged through Turkish public opinion about the identity of an attacker. There are two reasons: First, the nightclub attack triggered disagreements about lifestyles in Turkey. Second, it coincided with the peak of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts to create a "grand national front" by consolidating the Justice and Development Party base with nationalist segments in Turkey.