“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….
tpellow says
No doubt European Union’s political class will be just as enthusiastic to get Islamizing Turkey into E.U, if Islamic State takes over Turkey.
It’s the E.U political class’s driving principle of Islamizing Europe which is the priority still.
Angemon says
““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.”
The former inhabitants of Constantinople must be LOL’ing in their graves…
Craig C. White says
ISIS doesn’t stand a chance against Turkey. They are having enough trouble fighting against Syria. Turkey has allowed Al-Qaeda and weapons from Libya into Syria. Turkey has controlled what happens in Syria. Right now the ISIS are too busy in Mosul killing there own countrymen. Turkey will invade Syria and wipe out Damascus; thus claiming Turkey’s rightful place as head of this Islamist Caliphate.
umbra says
If turkey invades syria, it will also clash with iran and Russia. When that happens, NATO will not be there to save it. In which case, turkey will eventually lose.
isis is save in syria as long as it fights other syrian rebel forces and keep out of assad’s way. However, if and when syrian rebel forces are finally defeated, assad will turn his attention to isis and wipe it out.
Pica pica says
I think that ISIS will have to rethink about Turkey. They havn’t thought much about Mr. Erdogan. He’s not going to bow his neck…
Myxlplik says
This movement has defeated the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, because it has the will to use its weapons to win. Unless Erdogan and the current political apparatus in Turkey can match it, they will lose too.
We elected to fight this war over there so we don’t have to fight it here, and Muslims have decided upon Islamic rule, so we lost. When they are done with Erdogan they will fight us until we have the will to use our weapons or we will lose too.
umbra says
Any chance of success for isis in turkey is through unconventional (insurgency) warfare. For this to work, isis will need a support base within turkey to provide food, shelter, intel/surveillance, supplies. This network will have to be established before any operation begins and must be supported by sufficient portion of the turkish population. If isis has a similar network to the PKK, then it will be an endless source of problem for erdogan, that is until this network is completely dismantled.
It is unclear, at this point, what prospect isis has in successfully establishing such a network. However, if isis does succeed in doing so, the main threat is not necessarily isis, but realistically the domino effect resulting from its insurgency efforts. If turkey begins to lose control of the security situation within its borders, then other disgruntled groups like the PKK may seize the opportunity and rebel. In this instance, there may very well be another coup by the military to “take control of the situation”. turkey was the ailing old man in the 19th and earlier 20th century. Today, it may very well turn out be the terminal old man of the 21st century, if erdogan’s ambitious plans backfire.
Myxlplik says
It’s the will of Muslims to have their Caliphate, after Syria and Iraq they are going to Turkey. Unless the current rulers of Turkey are willing to murder as indiscriminately as ISIL to achieve this goal they will be replaced by ISIL. It’s really quite simple.
duh_swami says
ISIS-L has big ambitions, and every intention of carrying them out. Ability is another matter. What they are doing now is eliminating the opposition, or trying to. They will kill anyone who gets in the way, Sunni, Shia etc, because they are on a mission from Allah.
Many Mahoundians believe that and will join up, physically or mentally….It’s must be getting close to Mahdi time.
shortfattexan says
At first glance it appears that ISIS would have absolutely no chance against Turkey.
I have personal experience with the militaries of more than one Middle Eastern nation (including Turkey). And I can say with authority that no Arab nation has anything that can truthfully be called an army (giving high-tech weapons to tribal savages doesn’t make them an army – it makes them savages with high-tech weapons).
Turkey, however, is not an Arab nation, and they actually have a credible military. In a hypothetical war between Turkey and for example, Al-Assad’s Syria, or Al-Sissi’s Egypt, or a similar nation-state, Turkey would walk all over the opposition.
But ISIS might be a different story. Obviously the Turkish government would never submit to the Caliphate. Not that Erdogan wouldn’t want to see a united Middle East, but he wants to be in charge, not a flunky.
But I don’t how the overall Turkish population feel about ISIS. Erdogan has risen to power by promising to re-Islamize Turkey, so obviously the Turks are not opposed to a Sharia state, and the Turks are Sunnis, so it is at least conceivable that the Turkish people will support ISIS even though the government won’t.
It is also possible that Erdogan will try to form an alliance with ISIS, joining their cause without actually becoming part of them. This would allow him to attempt to gain control of Iraq a little bit at a time, and would also placate his own Islamist power base.
No matter what happens, things are not looking good for the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Angemon says
shortfattexan posted:
“But I don’t how the overall Turkish population feel about ISIS. Erdogan has risen to power by promising to re-Islamize Turkey, so obviously the Turks are not opposed to a Sharia state, and the Turks are Sunnis, so it is at least conceivable that the Turkish people will support ISIS even though the government won’t.”
Last year there were high-profile protests against the government’s erosion of secularism. I don’t think everyone in Turkey is in line with Erdogan’s reislamization.
shortfattexan says
But the protests didn’t actually accomplish anything. Erdogan mouthed some platitudes about reform (after ruthlessy crushing the protests), and then went on about his business of re-establishing the Ottoman Empire.
shortfattexan says
Now would be a good time for Istanbulchick to chime in and either agree, or tell me that I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Lia says
Indeed and things are moving rapidly, ISIS took control of chemical weapons in Iraq today. Question; chemical weapons in Iraq?? yes indeed.
be prepared erdogan.
Carmen Sporidis says
Lets remember through Turkey goes the greatest number of jihadis to ISIS ?????? Or maybe I miss something. A large part of this jihadis are Turks, this will be very interesting to see who will resist in Turkey against ISIS. Erdogan and his kind was waiting for collecting the spoil of war in Syria, it turns otherwise.
Michael Hart says
Big difference between east and west turkey, between the touristic resorts and the villages . ISIS would have a lot of support in some parts of turkey, a lot of resistance in other parts. Erdogan has set the stage for a greater islamization.