The double bombing in the center of Reyhanli, a Turkish town right near the Syrian border, on May 11 was a watershed event for Turks. With at least 51 casualties — all civillians and random bypassers — this was not only the bloodiest terror attack Turkey has ever seen, it has also proven to be the most controversial one.

It has been controversial because Turks could not agree on who was responsible for the attack. Reyhanli is not just near the border, but is also within the Hatay province which may as well be called "little Syria" — with the almost exact ethnic and religious diversity found in the neighboring Syrian Arab Republic. Since the beginning of the civil war in Syria, the town has also been a haven for Syrian refugees and even some members of the Free Syrian Army. Based on all this, most observers in Turkey agreed that the bombing has something to do with the war in Syria.

But which side in Syria? According to the government, the Syrian regime — which now sees Turkey as a lethal enemy — was behind the attack. The clues the police have found since the attack also seemed to confirm this view, as more than a dozen Turks who are members of extreme Marxist-Leninist terror groups with ideological and secterian ties to the Bashar al-Assad regime have been arrested. Particularily under suspicion is a Turkish citizen named Mihrac Ural, who has been living in Latakia since the 1980s, and is the head of Muqawama Surriya ("Syrian Resistance") — which is none other than the shabiha group responsible for the horrific massacres in Banias and Baida.

It is notable that not just the AKP (Justice and Development Party) government and its committed supporters, but also more independent Turkish experts interpret the Reyhanli attack as an act of the Syrian secret service and its spies inside Turkey. For example, see Cengiz Candar's recent piece in Al-Monitor.