The trembling remained. Even a few hours later it hasn't left him. "It's like I can't control my body anymore," says Mehmet, holding up his shaky hands to the streetlight as if to prove it. It's Sunday evening, almost three hours after the explosion, and Mehmet, 35, is standing on a street corner in Istanbul not far from the scene of the crime. Mehmet is wearing a black college jacket and still has the marks of the detonation on his face. The force of the cloud of rubble that threw him to the ground left black soot under his eyes, which he couldn't quite get rid of despite the water.

Access to all STERN PLUS content and articles from the print magazine

ad-free

Already registered?