The shame of realizing that I could be confused with the murderers because they acted in the name of the religion that I also belong to is not all. There is also the knowledge of the daily difficulties I and fellow Muslims will surely face because of the Muslim world — including the rulers of my own country — not responding to the magnitudes of the Paris attack effectively, which in turn would trigger a dangerous vicious circle pitting Muslims and non-Muslims against each other.

The experiences of post-9/11 attested to this. Particularly in the Western world, any Muslim individual, whether an observing, pious Muslim or not, was considered as a “usual suspect.” At security checks, passport control or consulate visa sections, being a Muslim meant being treated with bias.

The feeling of shame was because I shared the same religion, on whose behalf the perpetrators allegedly committed their crime. I knew, of course, Islam as any other religion, does not and cannot advocate such senseless criminality and shedding the blood of defenseless individuals. However, I was also very aware that the international media would prominently report — as it was already in the process of doing — that the gunmen of the Paris attack shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great") while committing their savagery, alleging that they avenged the Prophet Muhammad and that barbarism would spur already existing prejudices against Islam and Muslims all around the non-Muslim world.

When the news of the heinous attack Jan. 7 that took the lives of 12 people including the renowned cartoonists and the editor-in-chief of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris reached me, instantly mixed and contradicting feelings passed through my mind. Outrage to the cowardly attack was my predominant thought, but feelings of shame, irritation, fear and uneasiness were equally strong.

The world that we, as Muslims, will be living in going forward, in terms of practical aspects of daily life, will be different than the one before the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris on Jan. 7 — the 9/11 of Europe.

While hundreds of thousands of French assembled at the Place de la Republique for a vigil, in many European cities similar gatherings were taking place. Thousands of people appeared in front of the Brandenburg Gate in the historical center of Berlin in solidarity with the victims of the Paris attack. Not many Muslims were visible among the crowd. An intuitive sense of self-defense might have been prevailing.

The mood of the Muslims, including the Turks who are the largest non-German segment among the German population, is not one of comfort. The Euro-Muslims were already scrutinized by the European governments following the emergence of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq and with hundreds if not thousands of Muslims poured into the ranks of extremist Islamist organizations in the Middle East. The Paris attack will be confirming the anxieties of the European governments, and the Euro-Muslim situation will be further complicated.

Some relief could be made only by Turkey as the Muslim country in the Middle East that is also a member of a variety of European institutions, in addition to being a candidate for European Union membership (which does not look hopeful right now).

Then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had co-sponsored the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) proposed by the government of Spain in 2005. Prime ministers of both countries co-chaired the UN initiative seeking to galvanize the international community against extremism through the forging of international, interreligious dialogue and cooperation. UNAOC, according to its mission statement, placed a particular emphasis on defusing tensions between the Western and Islamic worlds.

However, the Turkey of 2015 is strikingly different from the Turkey a decade ago, despite no change in government. The gap in the Western perception on Turkey and its role in international affairs is emphasized also by professor Nilufer Gole of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Gole is an expert on Islam and modernity and a respected Turkish scholar. On the Jan. 7 attack in Paris, she said, “If in Turkey we still had the AKP government of five years ago that was valued and respected by the West and if that government would have unequivocally denounced this barbarism, perhaps some things could have changed. But that is not likely to happen. That is why we are in awful shape.”

Her prognosis was confirmed within hours of the attack. The event transformed into incendiary polemics once again reflecting a polarized Turkey. Social media became a platform with pro-government figures — Islamists and others — and the opposition exchanging vindictive remarks. Different and often opposing interpretations of the Paris attack fueled further polemics between the polarized protagonists of the Turkish political scene. The pro-government Islamists mainly put the emphasis of the cause of the deadly assault in Paris on the prevalent Islamophobia in the West. This amounted to a veiled legitimization, and at least justification, which for many is an unjustifiable aggression on free thought, freedom of expression and the basic values of contemporary civilization.

The official statements, first by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and followed by President Erdogan — despite condemning the aggression — did not neglect the idea that “terror has no religion and nationality” and that “it is not right to associate the assault with Islam.” The opposition circles in Turkey considered calling attention to the “rampant Islamophobia” to be “insufficient condemnation” and criticized the “hesitant attitude” of the Turkish government.

The Turkish government was already subjected to criticism on the allegations that it provided logistical support to jihadist elements in Syria, including IS and Jabhat al-Nusra. Any wavering on its part in condemning the perpetrators of crimes like the one in Paris added a new dimension to the debate on the political identity and the strategic prospects of Turkey’s allegedly Islamist government.

The post-Jan. 7 period looks to be more perilous than 9/11 for Turkey’s stability and Muslims, as a community and as individuals.