It has been a hideous start to the New Year. Turkey, which has suffered a turbulent year, has been convulsed yet again as 2017 unfolded. The outrage at a nightclub in Istanbul was but a symptom of the times — a failed military coup, purges within the army, setbacks in foreign policy, and bouts of terrorist activity have left the country reeling and arguably floundering in search of its moorings.

The serial jolts have doubtless shaken President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government to its foundations. Though no group has as yet claimed responsibility, one could argue that the rollicking New Year’s eve celebrations — no bad thing in a civilized society — was anathema to the fundamentalists of the ISIS variety.

Indeed suspicions are already on the Caliphate. The group has repeatedly struck in Turkish cities in 2016 in retaliation for Ankara’s support for international efforts to suppress its activities in Syria and Iraq. As the clock turns back after a century, Mustafa Kemal must be spinning in his grave.

Of course, the other factor in the greater scheme of things is the Kurdish nationalist group, called the Freedom Falcons or TAK, which in December had perpetrated a bomb explosion in a football stadium in Istanbul. The country bears witness to a mortal cocktail of fundamentalism and sub-regional jingoism and the venue of the bedlam and butchery — stadium or nightclub — is only incidental.

The TAK, a breakaway faction of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claims it is responding to a harsh crackdown by the army and police in Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey. The paradox could scarcely have been more cruel; while targeting the security forces, it is the innocent civilians who have repeatedly perished.

The fragile situation within the country has been inflamed with Turkey’s military intervention in northern Syria by ground and air. In terms of geostrategy, it has been a coalition of the willing in league with Russia though the cease-fire has for now halted operations.

The Turkish offensive was ostensibly designed to assist the fight against ISIS, but Erdogan’s main purpose was to forestall a link-up between the Kurds of Turkey with those of autonomous Kurdish areas of northern Iraq.

Central to the crisis is the virtually failed regime of President Erdogan. In the aftermath of the post-coup military purge, the fountain-head of state power cannot be confident of the military as its support base.

He has realised that it shan’t be easy to bring the ISIS to its knees; yet he has ratcheted up the pressure on the Kurds inside Turkey and in Syria. In a statement issued after Saturday night’s attack, he has vowed a “fight to the end” against terrorists. The carnage must end.