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By Fareed Mahdy

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Terrorism and terrorists are two of the most widely and largely used terms now-a-days. But what is the definition of terrorism?

According to the U.S. State Department, no one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance. However, an often used one is the definition of terrorism contained in Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(d). That statute offers the following definitions:

“The term ‘terrorism’ means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant, targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience.”

“The term ‘international terrorism’ means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country.”

“The term ‘terrorist group’ means any group practicing, or that has significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism.”

For its part, the U.S. Department of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms defines terrorism as:

“The calculated use of unlawful violence or threat of unlawful violence to inculcate fear; intended to coerce or to intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”

The United Kingdom’s Terrorism Act 2000 says that “terrorism” means “the use or threat of action where the action falls within subsection 2,73 the use or threat is designed to influence the government or to intimidate the public or a section of the public and the use or threat of action is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause.”

Meanwhile, since 1994, the UN General Assembly has condemned terrorist acts using the following political description of terrorism:

“Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable, whatever the considerations of a political, philosophical, ideological, racial, ethnic, religious or any other nature that may be invoked to justify them.”

In the light of the above definitions of terrorism, seven major questions impose themselves necessarily and urgently:

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