On February 28, the Turkish government-funded Anadolu Agency (AA) reported on the alleged takeover of a Syrian town by the Islamist “Free Syrian Army” (FSA). In the news report, the agency posted some images of the FSA fighters. A striking detail immediately attracted attention: on the arms and chests of some FSA fighters were logos of the Islamic State (ISIS) flag.
After the photos in the video were shared on social media, the agency immediately removed them from its website.
“Moderate rebels retook the strategically important Saraqib town in Idlib,” the AA claimed in its report.
“Moderate rebels” with ISIS symbols on their uniforms? Does not sound that moderate. See the photos here and here.
On the same day, the leading authority of Turkey’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Ali Erbaş, led the Friday prayers in the city of Hatay on the Syrian border. In his sermon, Erbaş said that Turkish soldiers are engaging in jihad in Syria by following the teachings of Islam’s prophet Mohammed. He said, in part:
“By obeying the call of our Prophet, who said ‘engage in jihad with your hands, tongues and properties’, our soldiers are saying ‘stop’ to the shameless assault of the enemy.”
Erbaş went on to glorify martyrdom in the name of Islam:
Our Almighty Lord says, ‘There are such men of the believers that they have remained loyal to their promise to Allah. Some have fulfilled their promises and have been martyred. Others have been waiting to be martyrs. They have never changed their promises.’
As in the Battle of Gallipoli and the War of Independence, today we are fighting a relentless struggle against the powers whose conscience have been blinded, that have lost their mercy and humanity, and against those that want to erase us from the stage of history… We – women and men, the young and the old, in brief, every individual of our nation – will not let them [those powers] lower our flag, silence our adhan [Islamic call to prayer], or violate our homeland. It is our unwavering faith in Allah that will make us successful. It is our love for homeland, adhan, flag and independence and the desire in our hearts to be martyrs and veterans [that will make us successful].
Referring to the Koran, Erbaş continued: “Never think of those who have been killed in the cause of Allah as dead. Rather, they are alive with their God, receiving provision, and rejoicing in what Allah has bestowed upon them of his bounty.”
Once again referring to the Koran, Erbaş asserted that the “enemy” will get defeated in Syria:
We have no doubt that with the help of Almighty God, the games of traitors will get destroyed, the persecutors will fall into their own traps, and their tricks will be their own trouble. Just like yesterday, victory will belong to our glorious nation that is on the side of justice and truth. As the Koran says, ‘soon that group too shall be ruined; they shall turn their backs and run away’.
Erbaş then recited a nationalistic poem by a Turkish author with Islamic themes, in which the Turkish military is referred to as “the last army of Islam.”
Erbaş continues using Koranic references to address the war in Syria. On March 2, he led the prayers at a mosque in Ankara, reading the Koranic verse, al-Fath (verse of conquest/victory). The Diyanet organized similar services in mosques around Turkey and in the Turkish-occupied northern districts of the Republic of Cyprus, reported the Anadolu Agency.
This is not the first time the Turkish government has declared jihad on Syria.
When Turkey launched a military campaign in the Syrian city of Afrin in 2018, the Diyanet declared that worshippers in mosques across Turkey — in at least 90,000 mosques — and across the Turkish-occupied northern districts of the Republic of Cyprus will pray for “the victory of Turkey’s military operation on Afrin,” reciting the Koranic verse Surah al Fath every day until the military campaign ends.
Surah al-Fath is the 48th chapter of the Koran, which says: “Allah has promised you much booty that you will take and has hastened for you this and withheld the hands of people from you—that it may be a sign for the believers and He may guide you to a straight path” (48:20).
It also contains this command: “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah; and those with him are ruthless against the unbelievers, merciful among themselves” (48:29).
Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, the Turkish government has funneled support to jihadists fighting to topple the secular-leaning government of Syria.
After years of fighting that has destroyed much of Syria, the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan still wants to support the last remnants of the same jihadi groups. To this end, Turkey has once again sent its troops to Idlib, the only city in Syria still held by al-Qaeda affiliated groups.
But Turks’ destructive jihadi attempts in the region did not start with Erdogan government. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1922), which also represented the Islamic caliphate since the 14th century, for centuries engaged in violent jihad to expand its territories in Europe, Asia and Africa.
And the founding phase of Turkey, which Turkey proudly but misleadingly calls “the War of Liberation/Salvation” (“Kurtuluş Savaşı” in Turkish), aimed for and brought about the extermination of the country’s indigenous Christian communities. Before and during that period, from 1913 to 1923, the leaders of the country organized and carried out a jihad genocide against Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians.
In a declaration issued on 2 July 1920, Mustafa Kemal, who would then be named “Ataturk” (The Father of Turks) and become Turkey’s first president, referred to the military campaign against the Greeks in terms of a holy war, stating: “The jihad, once it is properly preached, will, with God’s help, result quickly in the rout of the Greeks.”
And today, the Turkish military campaigns against Syria appear to be motivated by Islamic jihadism and neo-Ottomanist expansionism once again. At a public speech in 2016, for instance, Erdoğan made a distinction between Turkey’s “physical borders” and the “borders of our [Turkish] heart”. Referring to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the withdrawal of Turkish forces from other nations, Erdoğan said:
We cannot be trapped inside 780,000 kilometers [Turkey’s total area]. For our physical borders are different from the borders of our heart. Our brothers in Mosul, Kirkuk [in Iraq], in Al-Hasakah, Aleppo, Homs [in Syria], Misrata [in Libya], Skopje [in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia], Crimea [in the Russian Federation] and the Caucasus might be outside our physical borders, but they are all inside the borders of our heart. They are right inside our heart.
In another speech in 2018, Erdogan repeated his neo-Ottomanist aspirations. Referring to the days of the Ottoman Empire, Erdogan said:
Those who think that we have erased from our hearts the lands from which we withdrew in tears a hundred years ago are wrong.
We say at every opportunity we have that Syria, Iraq and other places in the geography [map] in our hearts are no different from our own homeland. We are struggling so that a foreign flag will not be waved anywhere where adhan [Islamic call to prayer in mosques] is recited.
The things we have done so far [pale in comparison to the] even greater attempts and attacks [we are planning for] the coming days, inshallah [Allah willing].
Given Erdogan’s many statements in praise of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey’s actions in Syria appear to be perfectly in line with his vision of the future and the Turkish government has been using and empowering the jihadists in Syria to implement that vision.
The New York Times reported in 2013 that “nowhere in rebel-controlled Syria is there a secular fighting force to speak of.”
Israeli Major General Aviv Kochavi also said that Syria now “attracts thousands of global jihad activists and Muslim extremists from the region and around the world, who base themselves in the country, not only to bring down Assad, but to promote the vision of a state based on Islamic law.”
Kochavi added that “before our very eyes, at our doorstep, a large-scale center of the global jihad is developing, which may affect not only Syria and not just the borders of Israel, but Lebanon, Jordan, Sinai, and can radiate onto the entire region.”
So many politicians and journalists in the West have misled the public concerning the real nature and goals of the ruinous war in Syria. Syrian President Bashar Hafez al-Assad is no angel, but all the propaganda to make a monster out of him was to have him overthrown in order to radically Islamise Syria. And that has only helped empower the global jihad movement and create a mass wave of refugees and migrants that Erdogan is now using to threaten Europe.
Is it not the time for the West to once and for all end the charade called the “Free Syrian Army” or the “moderate opposition” in Syria?
Dr. Vasileios Meichanetsidis is an Athens-based historian, genocide scholar and editor of the 2011 book “The Genocide of the Ottoman Greeks.”
CogitoErgoSum says
Allah is neither almighty nor God.
Student of History says
True that. But Ercogan, currently the worlds most dangerous man in reality thinks it is, and is boldly declaring war on Europe. The speech by his religious top adviser (forl lack of a better way to put it) just adds to proof this is so – as if any further proof was needed than Erdogan DEPLOYING (a military term) 1000 special police units to the Greek border to prvent hijrah invaders being repelled and worse, arming the invaders with teargas.
I belive that no long from now the action described in this comment will be considered the start of World War 3.
Walter Sieruk says
This above jihadwatch article reiterates to the reader that a ” mass wave of refugees and migrants that Erdogan is now using to threaten Europe.”
Likewise it’s very important for all the reader of this site to know and understand that many jihadists have the Islamic agenda and quest to conquer the nations of the West for Islam. Either “by hook or by crook” as in by engaging in the stealth jihad or in the violent and deadly “jihad of the sword” As seen in this recent jihad attack in Germany which harmed twelve people. Likewise part of all this in is by the Muslim infiltration of the Western countries which is being accomplished by the great number of Muslim migrants who are entering the Western nations.
As a Former Muslim had revealed in his book when he wrote that “there has been large –scale immigration into the West, from Islamic nations…of Muslims who are implacably hostile to the West, have no desire to learn why the West became so rich and tolerant , and certainly have no desire to assimilate. They feel no gratitude of allegiance to their Western host nations; their only obligations are to fellow Muslims.”
The author further clarifies by adding. “The mere presence of so many Muslims in the West had affected the domestic and international behavior of governments, whose foreign policy is dominated by fear of offending their Muslim population ready to riot on the slightest pretext. Those unassimilated Muslims are committed to introducing Islamic laws in the West. , and they are able to do so cleverly exploiting the freedoms created over the centuries by the infidels.” [1]
As for that above statement that the “Muslim population [is] ready to riot on the slightest pretext…” This is valid evidence that the old saying is true .Which is that “Evil is always looking for an excuse.”
On this very important subject another scholar in his book informs the reader that “Islamic involvement in the political process is much more advanced in Europe than in the United States.” and he further makes it known that “Of all the continents of the world, Europe is probably the number one target by Muslim strategists who are seeking world dominance.” [2]
[1] THE ISLAM IN ISLAMIC TERRORISM by Ibn Warraq, page 354
[2] HOW ISLAM PLANS TO CHANCE THE WORLD by William Wagner , pages 176, 195.
Ray Jarman says
Statfor offers an analysis of the situation on the ground around Idlib which it declares, “If and when fighting were to resume in Idlib, government forces will be able to rapidly advance into this demilitarized security zone, as well as areas to the south of it that will become untenable because of this agreement. As such, the cease-fire has allowed Turkey to protect a portion of rebel-controlled Idlib temporarily, but at a cost to its future sustainability.”
I think that Ali Erbas forgets when he proclaims, “As in the Battle of Gallipoli and the War of Independence, today we are fighting a relentless struggle against the powers whose conscience have been blinded, that have lost their mercy and humanity, and against those that want to erase us from the stage of history,” he seems to have forgotten that it was the last major battle of the Ottoman Empire. The Australians consider Gallipoli as the point in history that their country had earned it freedom from Great Britain since the Ausies lost so many of their young men’s lives in the successful effort to open the Dardanelles. One may consider that Mustafa Kemal began his struggle to bring a new Turkish state into existence when he took the reins of government from the so called young Turks and, unfortunately, Turkey has certainly slipped back into the pre-Gallipoli era mind set.
ingrid220559 says
Merkel was warned seriously not to give Erdogan so much power concerning refugees and so this dictator makes pressure again with so-called refugees as his soldiers are weak (and Putin is on Syria´s side) In Greece the people know which jihadists and several groups (also al-queda groups, turkish islamists and more,also fighting against each other in Idlib) come from Idlib! And Erdogan also uses buises for them! And he announced it in 2015 yet,he said it to Merkel. She didn´t even care-Merkel knew since 2015 that Erdogan will use “refugees” against Europe, Germany! Her deal was a piece of weak shit! Dangerous people and those who attacked the syrian people. Jihad groups! So even the farmers of Greece defend their fontier as Erdogan makes pressure with this weapon of “refugees”- he declared war on Europe. And also Frontex came for help . Well I wonder why the military training “europe defender 2020” trains because of Russia, but then I think Putin and Greece and Syria will defend this line (and Germany will also defend its frontier as well)-as it´s better not to get into confrontation between Nato and Putin. Putin has much more power and military forces than Erdogan.So Erdoa gan uses this weapon. Merkel is a very bad chancellor,thanks to Merkel for this chaos there as Erdogan uses her “welcome to all,2015- and we are very angry that german NGO´s, press and some UN-people get to there by making silly propaganda and screaming to jihadists”We´ve got enough room for you” Omg! In front of violent jihadits with framing by TV with some abused children. So Merkel and Erdogan are very dangerous for Europe, all the european countries.——If you like, watch Martin Sellner from Vienna at youtube, he gives us free informations about all that happens in Greece as he travelled to there.Thanks for reading , greetings from GDR2 under that terrible mad Merkel.
ingrid220559 says
Has anybody seen or heard Miss Merkel as Erdogan declared war on Europe? As it´s her big mistake results from her strange idiotical deal with this dictator? Merkel is as dangerous as Erdogan, you cannot even put her into any kitchen,as any kitchen will burn soon later! It was her stupid deal with him, she is mad or she wants these results.
mtman2 says
Merkel is a Globalist well paid puppet to break down the Christian West being Globalist communism wasn’t doing it fast enuff and Islam did the Middle East very well starting 700AD.
America is a different nut to crack tho with the Globalist UN working away from the inside via Agenda 21 + 2030.
ingrid220559 says
Yes, sadly true, now Austria helps, Hungary starts. Merkel is the worst chancellor since Hitler, Honecker, a destructor. Europe´s terminator. What several NGO´s, the bloody german press do to Greece is a crime now, with Soros.”Come to here, we´ve got enough room in our cities!”they scream! -Erdogan uses this mentality (but they make lots of stupid tax money with this business! It´s a crime,against the UN-declaration,which says it´s genocide–and more and more people here get murdered! Daily, more and more, they never fit to us) And the citizens who flee from Idlib get abused and run into the wrong direction as Erdogan abuses them as human weapons. The jihadists don´t care, Greece is in alarm, the camp was build for 5000 refugees, but there are more than 15.000 in it. Martin Sellner was there, reported from Greec: lots of crime, suffering,among too much brutal ones.Shame on them all! Dealing with human beings like Soros did and does, big criminals! Merkel´s genocide,and she punishes Syria hard and her job is destruction everywhere. Poor old Germany, poor Syria, Greece,Austria and all the others. I support Martin and our opposition, he is very brave,lately in Vienna in the whole public, though the “Antifa” screams and also his wife is threatened by murder, they don´t care, so very brave young people. I never understand why germans do not all stand up in front of Berlin and push these gangsters out! Like 1989. But who knows? Maybe..
gravenimage says
Turkey’s Jihad in Syria
…………………
This is barely being reported in the West–and when it is, it all about the “refugees”, with little mention that Turkey is using them as an invading army against Europe.
ingrid220559 says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i402xTmTIqQ&t=224s yes, so true, Erdogan uses lots of refugees as a big weapon, so true,and please : join all petitions from Martin Sellner, that 2015 never gets repeated, stop the invasion of Erdogan, he abuses people as weapons,against these people-and with 1 million of jihad-fighters from Idlib. The austrian patriots help, the greece people defend the line, Frontex and Austria just offered help for Greece to stop that. We are very angry about the hypocrite Merkel who made all this possible with a bad deal with Erdogan and she just announced,she wants to work together with Erdogan. Merkel also still damages Syria with sanctions,please join this and help,subscribe his petition “NIE WIEDER “2015 at youtube,Martin Sellner. thank you !He is the leader of the identity movement, politics (IB)in Austria,peaceful patriots.
WithPurpleAbandon says
Quite so. Those refugee displacements are part and parcel of the same neo-Ottoman strategy. Flooding the Balkans and surpassing the gates of Vienna multiple times, like when Turks initially started immigrating to Western Europe. Arabs muslims are simply a useful tool to accomplish this, Auxiliary troops, if you like.
Just like the Ottoman Empire used auxiliary troops recruited from other countries, like the Yamaks, Janissaries or Bashi-bazouks, and such.
CL North says
Indigenous citizens of the Greek Islands are the real political pawns & victims of the uncaring, indifferent European Union who has allowed 20K economic migrants to remain at Moria Camp in Lesbos (since 2015) that’s overflowing with humanity & deadly diseases. Greek property owners have lost their buildings & olive groves to expanding hordes of migrants who burn everything around them to keep warm. Now Iran is underreporting & misrepresenting their COVID-19 death numbers! Approximately 3 million economic migrants are stuck in Turkey wanting to cross into the Greek islands and on to Athens & Europe! It’s now or never for the Greek citizens to hold the line!
Where is the World Health Organisation (WHO) & United Nations demanding wealthy Muslim governments like Dubai, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, United Emirates and the other 56 total Muslim countries of the OIC take in their “fair share” of displaced economic migrants? Crickets from the mainstream media!!!
No, this is a globalists’ wet dream to cull world population and destroy Western sovereignty, Democratic countries, and Judeo-Christian ethics by allowing Islam & Sharia to spread like a deadly virus! Majority of the 3 million migrants currently waiting to cross into Greece & Europe are young, Muslim males of military age. Not only do they bring misogyny, low IQs and a rape culture into Europe, the majority of them have beards & facial hair perfect breeding grounds & carriers for the COVID-19 virus! Don’t let the liberal media fool you; Iranian citizens are fleeing for their lives also! Look at how many are wearing protective masks in Turkey today! I also feel sorry for the migrants being used as political pawns & cannon fodder by Erdogan & the Turkish government!
ingrid220559 says
Yes,sadly true and my turkish colleague Ninive knew it since more than 10 years,she got very angry:”Who the f..let these terrible stoneaged people in? Am I a servant or donkey here while driving my tram?” I´ve got numbers that 1/3 of our turkish population -as a minimum-is Kemalist, means modern, these people are wonderful and hate it so much:” Germany, why did you leave me and the police cannot do anything?”-young hard working turkish women scream when being attacked by even youngsters with knives” You have to stay home,where is your hijab?” We wear pepperspray or weapons.Elder women-grandmas in protest-get attacked by violent “Antifa”-the police has to save them, bloody Merkel, grr, so criminal! These vioent terrorgroups are payed by old political parties who marsh with them in public like the SA/SS. A shame.2018 Merkel made them popular against her own security boss who got bullied out. Antifa is her partner, shame on Berlin.Now the lefties of Germany said in public” Soon we´ll shoot the 1%,the riches,or we put them into Gulags” Madness,criminals, murders, idiots,psychopaths like Stalin.And Merkel orders whom to vote for,no democracy at all.
UNCLE VLADDI says
AND OBAMA BRAGGED ABOUT FINANCING THE FSA!