Decide yourself if there is no oxygen how do you react? You’ll try to keep your breath deep inside and you’ll try not to give out it. And you’ll be in panic. Whether there is no oxygen, you will act same as well. Security is the same as oxygen for a state. That is why in some circumstances state takes great precautions to provide security for her citizens.

It is clear that, the terrorist attacks are obvious threats against the security and the safety atmosphere in public. And they lead the authorities to crack down on terrorism and give more attention on security measurements.

It is a fact that the meaning of terrorism can be understood differently all over the world. In other words, the concept of terrorism is defined differently.

In 2000, worldwide, there were 423 recorded international terrorist attacks[1] . But there is no doubt that this data is fundamentally has no meaning when it is still not plausible to have a universally accepted definition of terrorism.

There are some key points about terrorism, on which there is consensus.  Those are the properties of terrorism.

Firstly terrorism is an act which is carried out by an organization. Also violence and ideology are the other most important attributes of terrorism. If these three elements are present then we can define terrorism as ideologically motivated violence acts which are done by organizational groups.

If we are to define these elements:

     Ideology: Each terrorist organization has their own political motivation and they use this ideology for justifying their acts.

     Organization: The other significant character for definition is organization. An organization distinguishes the terrorist act from football hooliganism, violent crime etc.

     Violence: It is the last character for definition on which everyone agrees. Violence is an item which differentiates the political party from terrorist organization. If there is an organization and ideology then this entity can be described as a political party. But if the organization uses violence to propagate its ideology then it is labeled as a terrorist organization.

Those are not only characteristic parts of definition but also they are the elements on which almost everyone agrees. In addition to those we can name “the random target” and “terrorizing the public” among the elements of terrorism.

Terrorist organization chooses innocent targets and properties which may have no relation to the ideology of the terrorists. However terrorists use terror act as a message, which express their ideology to the public and the state.

The concept of terrorism dates back to Jacobin, who employed violence and intimidation as a state policy in 1794-95 against those who were described as rebelers. In 1866 referring to Ireland and in 1883 referring to Russia, the concept was used as anti government sentiment.

But the important question that we need to answer is “who is a terrorist for who?” While one country considers a group as a terrorist, another country considers the same group as a freedom fighter which at the end makes thing more confusing and perplexing. 

This problem causes conflict of interest among different countries. Daase argues that there is no significant problem on definition, the problem is explaining many different kinds of events with the concept of terrorism, and the political power may misuse the definition of terrorism concept as well[2] .

In conclusion, the states make a great effort and give importance on security because they see it like oxygen. The terrorist acts are the enemies of the peaceful atmosphere. However, worldwide there is no one definition of terrorism accepted.

Three elements of terrorism are organization, ideology and violence. However there are other elements of definition which are universally unaccepted. We can say among those using the attacks as a message to terrorize public and targeting anonymous victims.

Face up with terrorism concept in 1795 as a state policy. In 1866 and 1883 it was recorded as an anti government sense and until now is has being used in the same sense.

The definition is still out of common acceptance. The reason lays out on political and states interests not on the difference of acts. In this point world states should be sincere at this issue…

 

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[1] Whitaker, Brian: The Definition Of Terrorism, Guardian Unlimited, may 7, 2001

[2] Süleyman Özeren et al. :Understanding Terrorism, Erkan Sezgin; ”Formation of The Concept of Terrorism”, IOS pres 2007