Tag: ISIS

Dutch Justice Ministry employee: ISIS a Zionist conspiracy

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (JTA) — A senior employee of the Dutch Justice Ministry said the jihadist group ISIS was created by Zionists seeking to give Islam a bad reputation.

Yasmina Haifi, a project leader at the ministry’s National Cyber Security Center, made the assertion Wednesday on Twitter, the De Telegraaf daily reported.

“ISIS has nothing to do with Islam. It’s part of a plan by Zionists who are deliberately trying to blacken Islam’s name,” wrote Haifi, who described herself on the social network LinkedIn as an activist for the Dutch Labor Party, or PvdA.

Haifi later removed her original message, explaining, “I realize the political sensitivity in connection with my work. That was not my intention.”

Two right-wing lawmakers, Joram van Klaveren and Louis Bontes of the VNL faction, asked the ministry how one with such views reached a prominent position in the ministry and if Haifi’s employment constituted a security risk.

A series of rallies supporting ISIS, which is considered a terrorist organization in many Western countries, were held in the Hague in July and earlier this month. Some demonstrators called for violence. The demonstrations on July 2 and 24 featured calls to kill Jews.

When anti-ISIS demonstrators tried to march through the heavily Muslim neighborhood of Schilderswijk on Aug. 10 to express their disapproval, a crowd of approximately 200 men barricaded the main street and staged an illegal counter demonstration in support of ISIS.

Some of the protesters hurled stones at police who tried to remove the obstacles. Six people were arrested

www.jta.org, August 13, 2014

August 16, 2014
That’s a Black Flag Associated With Islamic Terror Groups — and Just Guess Where Police Confirmed the Picture Was Taken

Jason Howerton

People across the U.S. expressed outrage on social media after a flag associated with radical Islamic terror groups was found flying outside a Garwood, New Jersey, home. The militant flag, a symbol routinely used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has since been taken down “voluntarily,” according to a police spokesperson.

Garwood Police Chief Bruce D. Underhill confirmed in an email to the Washington Free Beacon that his officers are “aware of the situation” and “have taken the appropriate steps.” However, he denied that police “ordered” the resident to take down the flag.

(Twitter/Marc Leibowitz)

“At this time, the flag in question has been voluntarily taken down. No further comments,” Underhill added.

The flag garnered national attention after a Twitter user posted a photo of the ISIS-associated flag outside the home as well as the resident’s address.

A Turkish flag remains displayed outside the home, but the black militant flag has been replaced with a new flag “that appears to resemble the blue-and-white-stripped flag of Greece,” according to the Free Beacon.

The Islamic militants of ISIS, or ISIL, have been advancing across northern Iraq, leaving a bloody trail in its wake. The radicals ultimately hope to overthrow the Iraqi government, bringing them one step closer to establishing an Islamic caliphate.

ISIS supporters in Jordan waved black flags and chanted: “The caliphate is coming to Jordan.” (Image source: YouTube)

Since June, Iraq has been facing an onslaught by the Islamic State group and allied Sunni militants across much of the country’s north and west. In recent weeks, the crisis has worsened as the militant fighters swept over new towns in the north, displacing members of the minority Christian and Yazidi religious communities, and threatening the neighboring Iraqi Kurdish autonomy zone.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

www.theblaze.com, Aug. 13, 2014

August 14, 2014
Turkish soldiers inside Syria abducted by Islamist rebels, news reports say

Turkish soldiers inside Syria abducted by Islamist rebels, news reports say

BY ROY GUTMAN

McClatchy Foreign Staff

ISTANBUL — Turkish troops conducting a resupply mission to a small Turkish military post inside Syrian territory were ambushed and detained Wednesday by Islamic extremists affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, according to Turkish media reports.

The troops were later returned to Turkey, news outlets in the Turkish city of Sanliurfa said. But it wasn’t clear what happened to the four armored personnel carriers they’d been traveling in. One report said ISIS had kept the vehicles, which had been seen flying ISIS flags.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday confirmed that a convoy had been sent to the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb lies about 15 miles inside Syria, but Turkey claims sovereignty over the area under a 1921 territory. Erdogan said the convoy had been sent to deliver supplies to the Turkish military contingent assigned to guard the tomb.

He did not, however, mention the ISIS ambush or the abduction of the Turkish troops, an incident that could put Turkey’s military, widely regarded as the region’s best equipped, on a collision course with ISIS, whose militants are fighting both Syrian government forces and other anti-government rebel groups for control of eastern Syria.

“Right now, the issue is not about ISIS,” he told reporters in Ankara. “The job of our convoy is to transfer aid to the Suleyman Shah tomb.”

The Turkish military said the dispatch of the convoy was a planned activity, and nothing out of the ordinary.

Local news reports said the vehicles crossed into Syria from the Sursitpinar border gate and were ambushed near the town of Manbij. The troops – the exact number was not reported — were then taken to Manbij and later repatriated to Turkey, Sanliurfa.com reported, citing local Syrian sources and another unnamed source.

The news portal, without naming its source, said that the vehicles, after their capture, were being driven about with ISIS flags on them.

In mid-March, ISIS demanded that Turkey abandon its military outpost at the tomb and threatened to attack and destroy it. This apparently gave rise to a secret conversation among top Turkish officials about whether Turkey should seize the opportunity to take on ISIS, an Iraq-based offshoot of al Qaida that is also fighting the Iraqi government for control of western Iraq and is considered a serious menace to regional stability. Al Qaida leaders denounced the group earlier this year for disobeying orders to withdraw from Syria, where another rebel group, the Nusra Front, is al Qaida’s recognized affiliate.

A recording of the secret conversation about a possible incursion into Syria was posted on YouTube and proved deeply embarrassing to the Erdogan government, which launched a major investigation to find the source of the security breach. The government also blocked access to YouTube and Twitter in an effort to halt dissemination of the recording.

According to news accounts, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu can be heard on the recording saying that “without a strong pretext,” Turkey would not receive support for an intervention into Syria from the United States or other allies. The chief of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, reportedly responded that “if needed, I would dispatch four men to Syria” and “have them fire eight mortar shells at the Turkish side and create an excuse for war.” He added: “We can also have them attack the tomb of Suleyman Shah as well.”

If the government was seriously considering doing anything at the time, it was put on hold following the publication of the discussion.

Based on the scanty details available Wednesday, it wasn’t possible to determine whether the resupply convoy was a genuinely routine operation or a probe to test ISIS’s intentions.

via ISTANBUL: Turkish soldiers inside Syria abducted by Islamist rebels, news reports say | World | The Sun Herald.

April 25, 2014
A decision for Turkey

By Boston Herald Editorial Staff

The turmoil that continues to roil the Middle East could eventually determine whether Turkey falls to extreme Islamist rule.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been described as moderate Islamist, but friends of Israel are not so sure. From the former era of cooperation, Turkey-Israel relations have sunk to ice-cold in the wake of Turkey’s support for the misbegotten Gaza aid flotilla of 2010 and Turkey’s current cooperation with the terrorist organization Hamas in building a hospital in Gaza. Turkey has admitted providing some funds to Hamas.

Yet Erdogan reportedly has good telephone relations with President Barack Obama, and Turkey, a member of NATO, has lent important support to the anti-government rebels in Syria.

Syria, listed by the U.S. State Department as a supporter of terrorism since 1979, has housed the headquarters of Hamas for years.

But Hamas leader Khaled Meshaai now has decided to move himself out of Damascus.

Hamas has even stopped denying that it’s looking for a new headquarters. Meshaai recently visited King Abdullah of Jordan; both said a move to Jordan was not contemplated.

The question came up in Turkey. Turkish President Abdulla Gul issued one of those “neither confirm nor deny” statements, which means the question is open.

If Hamas gave up terrorism, the headquarters location wouldn’t matter. Otherwise, a move to Turkey — which over the years has lost nearly 40,000 citizens to terrorism — would, according to Yusuf Tayyip, a writer for the Hurriyet Daily News, put Turkey “in far deeper difficulties than we could ever imagine.”

Exactly right.

It would be hard for Turkey to stay in NATO.

At a minimum, it would mean the end of all anti-terrorism assistance from the United States and other countries. And it would confirm Turkey’s course toward extremism.

via A decision for Turkey – BostonHerald.com.

February 5, 2012
No Need for Secularism in Tunisia

The leader of the Tunisian Islamist Ennahda party Ghannouchi says the closest example of their experience is Turkey, but they do not need secularism in Tunisia.

The closest example to the Tunisian experience is Turkey but Tunisia does not need secularism, the leader of the Tunisian Islamist Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi said in a recent interview with Hürriyet Daily News.

“We need democracy and development in Tunisia and we strongly believe in the compatibility between Islam and democracy, between Islam and modernity. So we do not need secularism in Tunisia,” Ghannouchi said in an interview Dec. 23.

After forming the new Cabinet in Tunisia two months after the country’s first free elections, Ghannouchi visited Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Prime Minister’s Office in Istanbul Dec. 23.

After a meeting with Erdoğan lasting an hour and a half, Ghannouchi said, “We expect many things from Turkey. We expect our relations will strengthen and cooperation will increase for the common interests of both countries, because we believe the closest experience to Tunisia is Turkish experience. We share many common elements and we expect our cooperation will develop in all fields.”

They also talked about the “main problems of the Muslim world,” Ghannouchi said. “Like what happened in Syria, in Libya, in Egypt, etcetera. and in the other countries where there are problems. We share many ideas on those issues.”

Regarding secularism, “There are some different contexts between Tunisia and Turkey in this field. We respect the choices of our friends in Turkey and they respect ours,” Ghannouchi said. Erdoğan’s message during his speech in Tunisia did not involve secularism, she added. “Erdoğan has not talked about secularism in Tunisia; he talked about secularism in Egypt.”

Ghannouchi also referred to the concerns over a radical Islamist sect called the “Salafis” in Tunisia. “Salafis in Tunisia is a new phenomenon. They do not express themselves in politics and they are minorities. They are part of our nation, they are citizens and they have the full right to express themselves as long as they do not use violence,” Ghannouchi said.

‘I guarantee women’s rights’

Ghannouchi refused claims there are concerns amongst some Tunisian women about losing their previously gained rights. “Most of Tunisian women are convinced Nahda does not constitute any threat to their rights. Out of 49 women in the Tunisian assembly, 42 of them are Nahda members. So Tunisian women believe Nahda does not form any threat to their rights; I guarantee their rights,” Ghannouchi said.

Ghannouchi said from now on their main aim would be realizing the goals of the revolution in Tunisia.

Tunisia’s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali unveiled his new Cabinet Dec. 22, two months after the country’s first free elections, and vowed to make job creation and reparations to victims of the ousted regime among his key priorities.

The creation of a new government is a major milestone in Tunisia, following the popular revolt against Ben Ali that began in December 2010, and triggered what became known as the Arab spring; a series of uprisings across the Arab world that led to the overthrow of several veteran dictators.

Saturday, 24 December 2011

HDN

December 26, 2011
Turkey starts work on modernising Mogadishu airport

By ABDULKADIR KHALIF Nation Correspondent

Posted Sunday, December 18 2011 at 19:11

MOGADISHU, Sunday

Turkey has started work to modernise Mogadishu’s Aden Abdulle International Airport.

Nine Turkish experts have been engaged in the setting up of a modern control tower from which all flights over Somalia’s territory would be monitored.

“Mogadishu’s airport operates under the old system and is mainly used by aircraft from Kenya,” said Mr Aydin Sarik, the head of the Turkish team.

Mr Sarik told journalists on Saturday that Turkish planes will start flights to Mogadishu after the airport’s infrastructure and systems are raised to world standards.

“It will ease the delivery of humanitarian assistance and development aid,” he said.

For nearly a year, a Dubai-based private company has been handling the airport services in Mogadishu.

SKA Air & Logistics officials have stated in the past that the company had plans to modernise the airport, named after Somalia’s first president, Aden Abdulle.

In late November, during a two-day visit to Mogadishu, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag officiated a number of projects his country would implement in Mogadishu.

Immediately after landing in Somalia, Mr Bozdag laid the foundation stones for a modern tower and a fortified perimeter wall to improve the airport’s security.

During a visit to Mogadishu in August, Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised that his country would implement multiple projects in Somalia, including in infrastructure and social services.

via Turkey starts work on modernising Mogadishu airport – Africa |nation.co.ke.

December 19, 2011