The conference titled ‘Bioterrorism’, organized by Üsküdar University Vocational School of Health Services, was held online. The guest of the event, organized within the scope of the University Culture course, was Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaan Yılancıoğlu, Deputy Director of Üsküdar University Addiction and Forensic Sciences. Yılancıoğlu, defining bioterrorism and making evaluations, stated; “Bioterrorism means the open or covert use of biological weapons, in other words, bacterial, viral, and other pathogenic agents, by large, medium, or small powers to create disease in humans, animals, and plants, with the aim of achieving political and financial gain. For this reason, bioterrorism is one of the greatest threats to humanity.”
“Interest groups can apply all kinds of destructive weapons on the world's people for their ambitions”
Speaking about armament in bioterrorism, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaan Yılancıoğlu stated that the production process in bioweaponry is much simpler than imagined. Yılancıoğlu; “Humans are beings who can turn everything around them into a weapon and use it with maximum efficiency. People also died during old epidemic periods. We are accustomed to pandemics, we know diseases well, so bioweaponry is simple and usable. What we call bioweaponry is the ability to create powerful weapons from bacteria and viruses isolated in a laboratory in a few steps. Many states or interest groups are doing much bigger work on this. Currently, the absence of a large-scale bioterror attack in the world is like luck. Because accessing biological weapons is much easier than imagined. Terrorist groups can easily access and use these weapons, so great care must be taken.” he said.
“Bioterrorism is one of the greatest threats to humanity”
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kaan Yılancıoğlu, defining the concepts of bioterrorism and terrorism and drawing attention to their differences, stated; “Terrorism is a concept we are all familiar with. Starting in the 1980s, terrorism has now become a well-known phenomenon. When we examine the process from past to present, we can see that it sometimes increases or decreases. Terrorism consists of destructive actions carried out by certain groups to make the state accept their demands. Bioterrorism, on the other hand, can appear in different forms alongside the concept of terrorism. Bioterrorism can be used not only by terrorist groups but also by countries or various power centers, openly or covertly, to create diseases in humans, animals, and plants as biological weapons, with the aim of achieving political and financial gain. For this reason, bioterrorism is one of the greatest threats to humanity. These attacks target vulnerable civilian populations. This area is a very sensitive one and must be carefully analyzed, and activities to protect and inform the public should be initiated as soon as possible.” he concluded.