The recent string of terrorist attacks in Muslim-majority cities, including Dhaka, Istanbul, Baghdad and Medina, have left the ummah, or Muslim community, bleeding. The suspected culprit of the attacks is the so-called Islamic State. (continued)

ISTANBUL -- Everywhere -- in the lounge, on the bus to the plane -- passengers talk to each other of close calls and changed plans at the last minute, which probably saved their lives.

ISIS is neither about the tenets of Islam nor helping Muslims. It's about power: militants will slaughter as many people as possible -- especially Muslims -- to achieve that which they so desperately crave. So let's be clear about one thing: No one wants to see ISIS defeated more than the Muslims who bury loved ones daily because of the horror ISIS is waging upon them.

ISTANBUL -- Turkey's strategy of supporting the Salafi factions in Syria, and its huge public relations machinery that praised the fighters, normalized Salafism in the eyes of many ordinary, pious Sunni Turks.

President Tayyip Erdogan says the incident is "completely within the framework" of the militant group.