Turkey Tries to Bully the Christian Action Network

As noted in the space numerous times over the past several years, Turkey has been flexing its Islamist muscles more and more on the international scene. Not only is Turkey dominant in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) but its prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has acted as a Muslim bully against the Western infidels, most recently in Germany on behalf of the Turkish minority there. As reported a few days ago, the Turkish ambassador in Vienna has been busy bullying the Austrians.

Now the Turkish government has taken umbrage at the actions of Christian Action Network, and is attempting to bully them into submission.

Long-time Gates of Vienna readers will remember the Christian Action Network, which is headquartered right here in Central Virginia. CAN has been in the forefront of the campaign to expose the domestic jihad compounds of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, the Pakistan-based terror organization which has planted communities of American converts to radical Islam throughout the United States. Marty Mawyer and Jason Campbell courageously investigated these compounds in person, and released their findings in the movie Homegrown Jihad.

Now CAN is under fire from Turkey for its use of the Turkish flag on the cover of its most recent documentary. CAN member Ryan Mauro has written an article at Front Page Magazine about the incident. Some excerpts are below:

Turkey vs. Christian Action Network

The Christian Action Network (CAN), where I serve as the National Security Adviser, is being condemned by Turkey’s ambassador to the U.S. for using the Turkish flag on the cover of the organization’s new documentary, Sacrificed Survivors: The Untold Story of the Ground Zero Mosque. Ambassador Namik Tan is accusing the CAN of slandering the Turkish people by using the flag and criticizing their government’s Islamist agenda. This accusation of bigotry is an attempt to distract from Turkey’s move away from secularism to the side of Iran, Syria, Hamas, and Sudan.

The controversy erupted when the Turkish media criticized the use of the flag on the cover of the film. CAN says they wanted to use a flag with Islamic symbols to emphasize the connection between radical Islam’s goal of promoting Sharia-based governance and the Ground Zero mosque. The Turkish flag was chosen because as the CIA World Factbook explains, “the crescent moon and star serve as insignia for the Turks, as well as being traditional symbols of Islam.”

The organization said it regretted any hurt feelings caused by the decision and it did not mean to single out Turkey. CAN sought to rectify the situation by adding the flags of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, and Sudan to the cover to identify some places where radical Islam has taken hold and is being promoted from. Turkey’s flag remained to serve as an example of how a secular, Western ally like Turkey can fall to the influence of Islamism as it has under Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party.

Ambassador Namik Tan wrote a letter on November 4 to Martin Mawyer, President of CAN, berating him for “unacceptable and unfair accusations about Turkey, the Turkish government and the Turkish people in your website.” He wrote, “You inaccurately and insultingly accuse the Turkish people and the government of supporting ‘radical Islam.’” He acknowledges that the group denies branding the Turkish people as a whole, but says CAN is doing this in “reckless fashion.”

However, CAN’s criticism of the Erdogan government made a specific point of explaining that the majority of Turks are not sympathetic to terrorist groups or radical Islam. Polls show that only four percent support suicide bombings, two percent have confidence in Osama Bin Laden to do the right thing, three percent have a favorable view of Hezbollah, and five percent have a favorable view of Hamas. The backlash among the Turkish people against Erdogan’s Islamist agenda was also mentioned.

The warnings about Turkey’s government are well-founded. Prime Minister Erdogan was once a member of the Welfare Party, which Soner Cagaptay of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy describes as the “motherboard of Turkish Islamists.” When his Justice and Development Party won in 2002, the Muslim Brotherhood praised them for the “exposing of the failure of the secular trend.” Under Erdogan’s leadership, Turkey has taken a confrontational stance towards Israel. It has held joint military exercises with Syria, and the President and Prime Minister have personally met with Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia leader that waged war on Coalition and Iraqi forces. Prime Minister Erdogan opposed the International Criminal Court’s indictment of Sudanese President Omar Bashir because “no Muslim could perpetrate a genocide.”

[…]

Martin Mawyer, the President of CAN, has responded with a letter asking if the Turkish government will publicly oppose the Ground Zero mosque, commit to providing no assistance to Imam Rauf’s project, and “publicly oppose the implementation of Islamic (Sharia) law in all its forms within its own country.”

via Gates of Vienna: Turkey Tries to Bully the Christian Action Network.