“The Muslim identity is above all sectarian, dispositional and political considerations. No structure should be allowed to spoil Islamic fraternity and unity,” said Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs. But of course, that is exactly the same argument that the Islamic State uses against Turkey and other Muslim states.
“Report: ISIL planning ‘jihad’ for Turkey,” by Zeynep Cermen, Al-Shorfa, July 8, 2014:
Documents seized in police raids in six Turkish cities indicate that the “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (ISIL) seeks to declare “jihad” in Turkey, a declaration that drew condemnation from the highest religious authority in the country.
Police uncovered photos, videos and audio recordings of al-Qaeda leader Halis Bayancuk during the raids in Van, Istanbul, Kayseri, Gaziantep, Kilis and Adana, Turkish daily Taraf reported in June.
“After the jihad of Syria, Turkey will be the next target. We will conquer Istanbul, God willing,” Bayancuk says in one of the recordings, a video apparently shot in a camp inside Syria.
Bayancuk, who was arrested in Turkey in January, is suspected of organising ISIL cells in the country.
Such reports have drawn condemnation from the Presidency of Religious Affairs, Turkey’s highest religious authority.
“The Muslim identity is above all sectarian, dispositional and political considerations. No structure should be allowed to spoil Islamic fraternity and unity,” the presidency said in a statement issued June 18th in eight languages.
“The reciprocal statements that contain violence, declarations of jihad, threats aimed at the destruction of holy shrines, kidnappings and killings should be regarded as the pre-shocks of the approaching mass disasters,” it said.
An unjust killing is the greatest crime in religion, the presidency said; according to the Qur’an and the sunnah, the lives, blood, wealth and honour of people are untouchable.
ISIL ‘propaganda’The documents seized during the police raids allege that ISIL has been trying to recruit Turks for almost two years as it operates in the country.
At least 500 Turks are said to have joined ISIL and al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria.
Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc on June 20th downplayed the report of threats.
“These kinds of terrorist organisations love propaganda to create an atmosphere of threats and panic,” he said. “We analyse their structure and their targets very well. We have not found anything threatening Turkey among these targets.”
ISIL relies heavily on propaganda to win recruits, said Bahadir Dincer, a Middle East analyst at the Ankara-based International Strategic Research Organisation.
“They are also using social media very well and they have a very strong network,” he told Southeast European Times. “They have been working hard to increase the number of their supporters while exerting significant efforts on their propaganda.”
Turkish recruits have been “cheated” by ISIL’s misrepresentation of religious concepts, said Ibrahim Canbolat, international relations professor at Bursa’s Uludag University.
“Some of the Islamic concepts and references used by ISIL have been perceived by some of the pure-minded Muslims as an appeal against the ‘atrocity and curse’ of the Western world,” Canbolat told Southeast European Times….