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Islamic State draws steady stream of recruits from Turkey: “Diluted form of Islam practiced in Turkey is an insult to the religion”

Sep 16, 2014 6:18 pm By Robert Spencer

16TURKEY-ErdoganWhat an odd state of affairs: the imams Obama, Kerry, Cameron, Abbott and a host of others assure us that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam. But a Turkish Muslim who went to join it says of his modern, moderate homeland: “The diluted form of Islam practiced in Turkey is an insult to the religion.” So not only does Can misunderstand Islam, but he does so in a way that makes him think he is understanding it properly — more properly than the moderate, peaceful version that every non-Muslim knows is the religion’s true manifestation. How did this strange situation come about?

“ISIS Draws a Steady Stream of Recruits From Turkey,” by Ceylan Yeginsu, New York Times, September 15, 2014:

ANKARA, Turkey — Having spent most of his youth as a drug addict in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Turkey’s capital, Can did not think he had much to lose when he was smuggled into Syria with 10 of his childhood friends to join the world’s most extreme jihadist group.

After 15 days at a training camp in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the de facto headquarters of the group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the 27-year-old Can was assigned to a fighting unit. He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIS fighter.

“When you fight over there, it’s like being in a trance,” said Can, who asked to be referred to only by his middle name for fear of reprisal. “Everyone shouts, ‘God is the greatest,’ which gives you divine strength to kill the enemy without being fazed by blood or splattered guts,” he said.

Hundreds of foreign fighters, including some from Europe and the United States, have joined the ranks of ISIS in its self-proclaimed caliphate that sweeps over vast territories of Iraq and Syria. But one of the biggest source of recruits is neighboring Turkey, a NATO member with an undercurrent of Islamist discontent.

As many as 1,000 Turks have joined ISIS, according to Turkish news media reports and government officials here. Recruits cite the group’s ideological appeal to disaffected youths as well as the money it pays fighters from its flush coffers. The C.I.A. estimated last week that the group had from 20,000 to 31,500 fighters in Iraq and Syria.

The United States has put heavy pressure on Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to better police Turkey’s 560-mile-long border with Syria. Washington wants Turkey to stanch the flow of foreign fighters and to stop ISIS from exporting the oil it produces on territory it holds in Syria and Iraq.

So far, Mr. Erdogan has resisted pleas to take aggressive steps against the group, citing the fate of 49 Turkish hostages ISIS has held since militants took over Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, in June. Turkey declined to sign a communiqué last Thursday that committed a number of regional states to take “appropriate” new measures to counter ISIS, frustrating American officials.

For years, Turkey has striven to set an example of Islamic democracy in the Middle East through its “zero problems with neighbors” prescription, the guiding principle of Ahmet Davutoglu, who recently became Turkey’s prime minister after serving for years as foreign minister. But miscalculations have left the country isolated and vulnerable in a region now plagued by war.

Turkey has been criticized at home and abroad for an open border policy in the early days of the Syrian uprising. Critics say that policy was crucial to the rise of ISIS. Turkey had bet that rebel forces would quickly topple the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, but as the war evolved, the extremists have benefited from the chaos.

Turkish fighters recruited by ISIS say they identify more with the extreme form of Islamic governance practiced by ISIS than with the rule of the Turkish governing party, which has its roots in a more moderate form of Islam.

No it doesn’t. It has its roots in an explicit and conscious rejection of political Islam by Kemal Ataturk — a rejection that Recep Tayyip Erdogan is steadily reversing.

Hacibayram, a ramshackle neighborhood in the heart of Ankara’s tourist district, has morphed into an ISIS recruitment hub over the past year. Locals say up to 100 residents have gone to fight for the group in Syria.

“It began when a stranger with a long, coarse beard started showing up in the neighborhood,” recalled Arif Akbas, the neighborhood’s elected headman of 30 years, who oversees local affairs. “The next thing we knew, all the drug addicts started going to the mosque.”

One of the first men to join ISIS from the neighborhood was Ozguzhan Gozlemcioglu, known to his ISIS counterparts as Muhammad Salef. In three years, he has risen to the status of a regional commander in Raqqa, and locals say he frequently travels in and out of Ankara, each time making sure to take back new recruits with him.

Mehmet Arabaci, a Hacibayram resident who assists with distributing government aid to the poor, said younger members of the local community found online pictures of Mr. Gozlemcioglu with weapons on the field and immediately took interest. Children have started to spend more time online since the municipality knocked down the only school in the area last year as part of an aggressive urban renewal project.

“There are now seven mosques in the vicinity, but not one school,” Mr. Arabaci said. “The lives of children here are so vacant that they find any excuse to be sucked into action.”

Playing in the rubble of a demolished building on a recent hot day here, two young boys staged a fight with toy guns.

When a young Syrian girl walked past them, they pounced on her, knocking her to the floor and pushing their toy rifles against her head. “I’m going to kill you, whore,” one of the boys shouted before launching into sound effects that imitated a machine gun.

The other boy quickly lost interest and walked away. “Toys are so boring,” he said. “I have real guns upstairs.”

The boy’s father, who owns a nearby market, said he fully supported ISIS’s vision for Islamic governance and hoped to send the boy and his other sons to Raqqa when they are older.

“The diluted form of Islam practiced in Turkey is an insult to the religion,” he said giving only his initials, T.C., to protect his identity. “In the Islamic State you lead a life of discipline as dictated by God, and then you are rewarded. Children there have parks and swimming pools. Here, my children play in the dirt.”

But when Can returned from Raqqa after three months with two of the original 10 friends he had left with, he was full of regret.

“ISIS is brutal,” he said. “They interpret the Quran for their own gains. God never ordered Muslims to kill Muslims.”

Indeed. That prohibition is in Qur’an 4:92 — although apostates and heretics are fair game according to Islamic law, which is why the Islamic State kills them. Note that Can does not, however, say that Allah never ordered Muslims to kill non-Muslims.

Still, he said many were drawn to the group for financial reasons, as it appealed to disadvantaged youth in less prosperous parts of Turkey. “When you fight, they offer $150 a day. Then everything else is free,” he said. “Even the shopkeepers give you free products out of fear.”

ISIS recruitment in Hacibayram caught the news media’s attention in June when a local 14-year-old recruit came back to the neighborhood after he was wounded in a shelling attack in Raqqa. The boy’s father, Yusuf, said that the government had made no formal inquiry into the episode and that members of the local community had started to condemn what they saw as inaction by the authorities.

“There are clearly recruitment centers being set up in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey, but the government doesn’t seem to care,” said Aaron Stein, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. “It seems their hatred for Bashar al-Assad and their overly nuanced view of what radical Islam is has led to a very short- and narrow-sighted policy that has serious implications.”

The Interior Ministry and National Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.

On a recent afternoon in Ankara, Mr. Erdogan and Mr. Davutoglu came to pray at the historic Haci Bayram Veli Mosque, just over 100 yards away from an underground mosque used by a radical Salafi sect known to oversee ISIS recruits.

When news of their visit reached the neighborhood, several residents scurried down the steep hill hoping to catch an opportunity to raise the issue.

At the same time, a 10-year-old boy lingered in his family’s shop, laughing at the crowd rushing to get a glimpse of the two leaders. He had just listened to a long lecture from his father celebrating ISIS’ recent beheading of James Foley, an American journalist. “He was an agent and deserved to die,” the man told his son, half-smirking through his thick beard.

To which the boy replied, “Journalists, infidels of this country; we’ll kill them all.”

They don’t like their journalists? We can send them some of our pro-jihad journalists — I am sure that Christiane Amapour, Niraj Warikoo, Bob Smietana, Lisa Wangsness, Kari Huus and other jihad stooges would be very happy to make the trip and give them rosy coverage.

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Filed Under: Islamic State (aka ISIS, ISIL, Daesh), Jihad doctrine, Moderate Muslims, Turkey Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. Wolfgang says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/09/17/01/44/travellers-stopped-at-airports-in-fresh-bid-to-catch-isil-recruits

    Yet we have the cops stopping people daily from going to fight with ISIS from Australian Airports………….what a farce, but Abbot says ISIS is not Islam ! and Islam is not to blame, now Australians will join Americans, Brits, Canucks in another failed War, what a screwed up state of affairs.

  2. Wolfgang says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    Turkey, Iraq and the west are all singing from the same hymm sheet…..sooooooooooo tiring

  3. Angemon says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 7:06 pm

    “It began when a stranger with a long, coarse beard started showing up in the neighborhood,” recalled Arif Akbas, the neighborhood’s elected headman of 30 years, who oversees local affairs.

    That’s a red flag right there. Muhammad had a beard, he ordered muslims to grow beards to distinguish themselves from non-muslims, but it’s not mandatoy in islam so if a muslim cares enough to know let his beard grow free then chances are he cares enough about other things, like jihad against non-muslims.

    “The next thing we knew, all the drug addicts started going to the mosque.”

    And I can imagine how they were pulled in. He told them using drugs is haram, that they’ve sinned and were on their way to hell, vividly depicted in islamic orthodoxy. But he also gave them a way out – jihad. He probably even quoted Bukhari, volume 4, book 52, number 44:

    “ Narrated Abu Huraira:

    A man came to Allah’s Apostle and said, “Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward).” He replied, “I do not find such a deed.”

    Or volume 4, book 52, number 46:

    “ Narrated Abu Huraira:

    I heard Allah’s Apostle saying, “The example of a Mujahid in Allah’s Cause– and Allah knows better who really strives in His Cause—-is like a person who fasts and prays continuously. Allah guarantees that He will admit the Mujahid in His Cause into Paradise if he is killed, otherwise He will return him to his home safely with rewards and war booty.” ”

    Playing in the rubble of a demolished building on a recent hot day here, two young boys staged a fight with toy guns.

    When a young Syrian girl walked past them, they pounced on her, knocking her to the floor and pushing their toy rifles against her head. “I’m going to kill you, whore,” one of the boys shouted before launching into sound effects that imitated a machine gun.

    Remember: it’s poverty that causes people to blow themselves up, or to call women “whores” and threaten to kill them /sarc off

    The boy’s father, who owns a nearby market, said he fully supported ISIS’s vision for Islamic governance and hoped to send the boy and his other sons to Raqqa when they are older.

    “The diluted form of Islam practiced in Turkey is an insult to the religion,” he said giving only his initials, T.C., to protect his identity. “In the Islamic State you lead a life of discipline as dictated by God, and then you are rewarded. Children there have parks and swimming pools. Here, my children play in the dirt.”

    Why doesn’t he move there then?

    Still, he said many were drawn to the group for financial reasons, as it appealed to disadvantaged youth in less prosperous parts of Turkey. “When you fight, they offer $150 a day. Then everything else is free,” he said. “Even the shopkeepers give you free products out of fear.”

    Oh, so that’s why the market owner doesn’t move there! What a hypocrite! He claims that ISIS practices discipline as dictated by allah but he doesn’t want to give the goods for free – he’s avoiding real islam for personal gain.

    “There are clearly recruitment centers being set up in Ankara and elsewhere in Turkey, but the government doesn’t seem to care,” said Aaron Stein, a fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.

    Why would the government care? They’re taking away drug addicts (and probably more “undesired” from the bottom of the barrel of society, if they’re true to form). I wouldn’t be surprised if for all the authorities – local or otherwise – care they see it as doing them a favour.

    At the same time, a 10-year-old boy lingered in his family’s shop, laughing at the crowd rushing to get a glimpse of the two leaders. He had just listened to a long lecture from his father celebrating ISIS’ recent beheading of James Foley, an American journalist. “He was an agent and deserved to die,” the man told his son, half-smirking through his thick beard.

    To which the boy replied, “Journalists, infidels of this country; we’ll kill them all.”

    And these are the people and mindset that the likes of sheik Hussein and dhimmi of the year Cameron are doing their best to avoid fighting as not to hurt the feelings of muslims. Nothing bad can come of it, right? RIGHT? I, for one, would like to see them try to win that heart and mind.

  4. Alarmed Pig Farmer says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 7:14 pm

    So now the Young Turks are streaming south into the Levant to join the New Caliphate, a tremendous personal opportunity for each of them. The new caliphate meets the old caliphate, a dash of Ottomam not cinnemon. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

    And don’t forget that Turkey’s leader digs the Islam fundamentals, and has raised the logistical bar greatly by disallowing use of its airstrips or fly zone. Boy, we’ve had some worthless allies, but Turkey is a *totally* worthless one, as in totally counterproductive. If Recep walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then he’s our enemy, not our ally. Vlad must be lipping his chops on this one.

    • umbra says

      Sep 16, 2014 at 8:16 pm

      pakistan (ISI) fostered the taliban since the 80’s. Now it has infested pakistani society and splintered into different flavours, some actively fighting pak authorities. The same will probably occur with isis in turkey, but that may take decades.

      Putin is likely to be privately amused by the very public fracture between the US and turkey over isis. The US does have a completely useless “ally” in turkey.

  5. john spielman says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 7:16 pm

    WAIT A MINUTE! NOTE TO NSA SPIES WHO READ THIS WEBSITE: maybe we should just arm the Kurds to keep them safe and block ISIS from going north east but let them freely attack north west and destroy Turkey and attack south into Saudi Arabia destroy Mecca and Medina. Once they have cleaned the Salafi house then NUKE EM GET RID OF THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL!

  6. jack says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 7:52 pm

    I just don’t get it or come close to getting it. How do these fuckers get so wound up about religion. Lighten up!

    Go Bruins!

    • gravenimage says

      Sep 16, 2014 at 11:18 pm

      Good grief—the problem here isn’t “getting wound up about religion”—as though going on preaching missions or deciding to keep strict kosher were morally equivalent to going off to the Islamic State to behead innocent people.

    • harbidoll says

      Sep 17, 2014 at 1:29 pm

      booty -by doing something they can do half well-fight

  7. Jacksonl03 says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    “There are now seven mosques in the vicinity, but not one school,” Mr. Arabaci said. “The lives of children here are so vacant that they find any excuse to be sucked into action.”

    One essence of the problem: When all you’re taught as a child is Islamic holy roller bullshit you slide into adolescence and adulthood with no realistic concept of the real world and life’s true possibilities. What a background: Easy prey for ISIS.

  8. gravenimage says

    Sep 16, 2014 at 11:13 pm

    He said he shot two men and participated in a public execution. It was only after he buried a man alive that he was told he had become a full ISIS fighter.

    “When you fight over there, it’s like being in a trance,” said Can, who asked to be referred to only by his middle name for fear of reprisal. “Everyone shouts, ‘God is the greatest,’ which gives you divine strength to kill the enemy without being fazed by blood or splattered guts,” he said.
    …………………………….

    Notice that everything this pious Muslim cites as Islamic is savage violence. How “spiritual”…

    More:

    Playing in the rubble of a demolished building on a recent hot day here, two young boys staged a fight with toy guns.

    When a young Syrian girl walked past them, they pounced on her, knocking her to the floor and pushing their toy rifles against her head. “I’m going to kill you, whore,” one of the boys shouted before launching into sound effects that imitated a machine gun.
    …………………………….

    Aw—how charming—not. Very Islamic, though—violence and homicidal hatred of girls.

    More:

    The boy’s father, who owns a nearby market, said he fully supported ISIS’s vision for Islamic governance and hoped to send the boy and his other sons to Raqqa when they are older.

    “The diluted form of Islam practiced in Turkey is an insult to the religion,” he said giving only his initials, T.C., to protect his identity. “In the Islamic State you lead a life of discipline as dictated by God, and then you are rewarded. Children there have parks and swimming pools. Here, my children play in the dirt.”
    …………………………….

    Of course, this is utter bullsh*t. While Turkey is a mess by civilized Western standards, they are still *far* more likely to have parks and swimming pools than is the Islamic State, or even northern Syria and western Iraq that preceded it.

    But what they *do* have for the kiddies is real severed heads for them to play with—which is probably a lot “cooler” than pretending to “Honor Kill” the neighbor girls…

    God, I hate Islam.

  9. mortimer says

    Sep 17, 2014 at 12:38 am

    Aha! So when Muslim fanatics go to Syria and Iraq to commit mass murder, many of them lose their faith due to the cruel, primitive barbarity, then they become apostates and THEN they are murdered by REMAINING FANATICS!

    That’s how it works!

  10. Laura says

    Sep 17, 2014 at 4:59 am

    “Turkish fighters recruited by ISIS say they identify more with the extreme form of Islamic governance practiced by ISIS than with the rule of the Turkish governing party.”
    And, of course, Turkey is very keen to join the EU and many of the political elites in Europe are keen for that to happen. You couldn’t make it up!

  11. EmHotep says

    Sep 17, 2014 at 6:04 am

    PM Ahmed Davutoglu and President Tayyip Erdogan are unstoppable duos. Radical islamists no need to deny…

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