BY MOVSES MUSAELIAN

Mercenaries have been used often throughout history in conflicts throughout the world. Their presence has helped armies and fighting forces gain manpower and fighting capability through monetary incentive, which has proven to be a rather convenient method of gaining a temporary military boost. The United Nations, however, has recognized the dangerous implications that such mercenaries have for international peace and security and has passed resolutions affirming not only the danger, posed by the use of such mercenaries, to international peace and security, but also to self determination and the freedom of people1.

At the breakup of the Soviet Union, many conflicts rose up in the Caucasus region and as a result of these conflicts, several parties utilized mercenaries in their struggle; for example, the use of Afghan and Chechen mercenaries against the Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict arose when Azerbaijan attempted to brutally suppress the legal expression of self-determination by the NK2 people, who wished to live separate from a government that had continuously denied them rights and kept them under oppression. Even though Azerbaijan had a clear military advantage over the NK Armenians in all aspects, they were not able to defeat these people, who were determined to stay free. As a result of subsequent military failures in the early 1990s, Azerbaijan desperately turned to the use of mercenaries to try to change the course of the war. In recruiting such mercenaries, Azerbaijan actively tried to play the “religion card” in portraying the conflict between Christian Armenians and Muslim Azeris, when in reality such religious connotations were not at all at the core of the conflict. As a result, Mujahedin groups from Afghanistan, with ties to al-Qaeda, and extremist groups from Chechnya were brought to help in the clamping down of this expression of free will. The Washington Post in 1993 wrote, “The government of this Caucasian republic has hired a force of more than 1,000 Afghan mujaheddin fighters to buttress its sagging army, introducing a volatile new element to the five-year Azerbaijani-Armenian war on the former Soviet Union’s southern rim”-. This known faction was allied with infamous warlord, Hekmaytar, and associated with the mujaheddin faction, Hezb-i-Wahdat. In parallel, Chechen mercenaries were led by Chechen terrorist, Shamil Basayev, infamous for the Beslan School attack, who later realised that the conflict against the NK Armenians had little to do with proper jihad.

After the end of the NK war and with tacit approval and knowledge from the government, Azerbaijan continued to be used for terrorist activities by groups such as al-Qaeda and Hezb-e-Islami, which had logistical offices in the country. For example, Wadih el-Hage, leader of the al-Qaeda cell in Nairobi, which later destroyed the US embassy of Kenya in 1998, frequently relayed vital communication to individuals such as Osama bin Laden while stationed in Baku. After the US embassy attacks in 1998, international pressure began to mount on Azerbaijan for the harboring of such terrorist organizations; in response Azerbaijan did not extradite such individuals, rather repatriated them. The US Department of State noted in 1999, in its annual report on global terrorism, “Although Azerbaijan did not face a serious threat from international terrorism, it served as a logistic hub for international mujahidin with ties to terrorist groups, some of whom supported the Chechen insurgency in Russia.”4 The FBI later on established in 1998 that there were 60 telephone calls between Bin Laden and his contacts from the branch of “Islamic Jihad” in Baku, and it is further speculated that as a result there might have been an Azerbaijani trace in the September 11 attacks5. It was even mentioned by the Associated Press that, “one of Bin Laden’s associate claimed that Bin Laden himself led mujahedin in at least two battles in Nagorno-Karabakh.”6 The Congressional Research Services in its issued report also stated that groups and individuals affiliated with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda had used Azerbaijan as one of its bases in their growing terrorist network7.

While Azerbaijan made stronger declarations to tackle terrorism after the September 11 attacks, it has used the pretext of both fighting terrorism and its frozen conflict with NK to suppress freedoms of various sorts and democracy in its own country. The United Nations has similarly passed resolutions on “the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism”8 which Azerbaijan has continued to violate. For example, the intimidation and imprisonment of journalists and activists has become routine in order to solidify the Aliyev clan’s authoritarian grip on the country. Amnesty International and various other human rights organization have often criticized this human rights situation and in one of its press releases, Amnesty International stated, “In oil-rich Azerbaijan, 20 years of independence, economic prosperity and relative stability have failed to translate into greater fundamental freedoms for its citizens while the consolidation of authoritarian rule over the last decade has been largely ignored by the outside world.”9 Freedom House has continuously described Azerbaijan as “not free” in both political rights and civil liberties and in May of 2011 the European Parliament expressed deep concern in this worsening of human rights in Azerbaijan and called on remaining political prisoners to be freed and for Azerbaijan to respect its duties to conventions on human rights10. The bleak status of democracy in this country was only darkened more by a referendum that abolished presidential limits and effectively allowed for Aliyev and his family to rule the country without end. In addition to this oppression, Azerbaijan has continued with provocative and violent actions in the border area with NK and Armenia, which has threatened the peace and security of the civilians living in the border areas; for example, its recent shooting on Movses village in the border area. The acts of such subversive terrorist groups by the Azerbaijan military in the border areas and near civilian populations can be seen as acts of terrorism and add to the legacy of Azerbaijan’s association with terrorism. The complete destruction of the Julfa Armenian cross stones by Azerbaijani military has added a cultural dimension to this terrorist ideology as well. Organizations such as UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) brought forward appeals to Azerbaijan to stop this blatant act of cultural destruction.

I shed light on the associations that Azerbaijan in particular has had with terrorism and violent mercenary groups, which, contrary to UN principles, contributed to the oppression of people’s rights to freedom and self-determination, namely that of the Nagorno-Karabakh people. The subject of terrorism and international strategies in tackling terrorism is a frequently discussed matter at the United Nations, in addition to the core UN principles of freedom and self-determination that have so frequently been violated by the Republic of Azerbaijan towards the NK people, who have expressed democratic desire for self-determination, and towards their own people, who have expressed the desire for a democratic country. During the time of the two week internship the subject of counter-terrorism was frequently discussed in the General Assembly. In UN’s 2006 strategy for counter-terrorism, it was affirmed that, “States must ensure that any measures taken to combat terrorism comply with their obligations under international law, in particular human rights law, refugee law and international humanitarian law.”11

In conclusion, in the past decade the importance of effective counter-terrorism strategies has greatly increased as the type of threats in the world have also changed. In employing effective counter-terrorism strategies it has been stressed by the UN that such strategies not affect basic human rights of the citizens. In extension to this, the use of mercenaries has also been brought under more heavy scrutiny, especially following the use of such mercenaries in the War on Iraq by US forces, which is reported by the UN Human Rights Council12. In the case of Azerbaijan, we have seen an almost intersection of these two important themes and it is hoped that countries like Azerbaijan can move to be more compliant with international conventions, requests, and urgings in order to contribute to the betterment of international security.

Notes
1. A/RES/42/96
2. Nagorno-Karabakh
3. The Washington Post
4. http://www.state.gov/www/global/terrorism/1999report/eurasia.html#Azerbaijan.
5. http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org/wps/wcm/connect/a2aa12004f018b88b8d1fc3170baead1/WP20-2008_Taarnby_Mujahedin_Nagorno-Karabakh_Global_Jihad.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CACHEID=a2aa12004f018b88b8d1fc3170baead1
6. Associated Press 11/14/99
7. Congressional Research Services (CRS, 9/10/2001)
8. http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terrorism.shtml
9. http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/international-community-must-act-azerbaijan-crackdown-2011-11-16
10. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2011-0243+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN
11. http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terrorism.shtml#poa4
12. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/18session/A.HRC.18.32.Add.4_en.pdf

Movses Musaelian completed the Internship program at the Armenian Mission at the United Nations this summer. Above is a research project completed for the internship.

August 17, 2012 | 11:41

LOS ANGELES. – The Armenian Genocide 100th Anniversary Committee is established in Los Angeles. Its objective is to coordinate and head the Genocide commemoration events to be held in the US West Coast, and in the lead-up to April 24, 2015, the Committee informs.

The Committee’s formation was preceded by community discussions with the largest Armenian organizations of the US West Coast.

“The creation of the Committee reflects these organizations’ decision to centralize under a united strategic plan the efforts toward organizing Armenian Genocide’s 100th anniversary events.

The Committee of the US West Coast will coordinate the activities of the regional chapters and support their initiatives. Also, the Committee will closely cooperate with the state body that coordinates the Armenian Genocide’s 100th anniversary events and with the similar organizations of the [Armenian] Diaspora,” the Armenian Genocide 100th Anniversary Committee’s statement reads in particular.

BY HARUT SASSOUNIAN

I recently came across an extremely significant Islamic document that severely criticizes Turks for using religion as a cover to killing Armenian Christians.

This rarely seen document is a Fatwa or religious decree issued in May 1909 by Grand Sheikh Salim al-Bishri of Egypt, condemning Turkish Muslims for massacring 30,000 Armenians in Adana, a major city in the Ottoman Empire.

Sheikh al-Bishri of Al-Azhar Mosque, leader of the Muslim world’s preeminent center of Islamic studies in Cairo, issued this Fatwa in order to counter the decree issued in April 1909 by a Turkish Mufti (religious leader), urging Turks to kill Armenians because “they were against Muslims and God.”

Upon seeing a passing reference to the Egyptian fatwa on the internet, I contacted Prof. Mohammed Rifaat al-Emam, an expert on Armenian history, whom I had met during a recent visit to Cairo. Dr. al-Emam kindly sent me the original Arabic text of this important religious document, excerpts of which are presented below in English translation for the first time:

“We have seen in local newspapers agonizing news and vile reports about Muslims of some Anatolian provinces of the Ottoman Empire attacking Christians and killing them brutally. We could not believe these reports and hoped that they were false, because Islam forbids aggression, oppression, bloodshed, and harming human beings — Muslims, Christians and Jews alike.

Oh Muslims living in that region and elsewhere beware of actions prohibited by Allah in His Sharia [Islamic law] and spare the blood that Allah prohibited to spill and do not transgress on anyone since Allah does not like aggressors…

Your duty towards those who are allied with you, who entrusted their safety to you and who reside among you and next to you from Ahlul Dhimma [Jewish and Christian minorities protected under Islam], as imposed by Allah, is to uplift them as you would uplift yourselves, prevent them from what you prevent yourselves and your kinsfolk, make your strength their strength, make pride and prosperity out of your strength, and protect their monasteries and churches the way you protect your mosques and temples.

Whoever abuses their women, draws the sword on them, and oppresses them contradicts Muslims’ pledge to Allah, which is the obligation of Muslims.

Be informed that if what the public is hearing is true, then you have angered your Allah and did not satisfy your Prophet and the Sharia. You kept your Muslim brothers away from their religion, whose rejection became hideous by this heinous act, violating what is forbidden, and you let loose tongues of people ignorant of your religion to pronounce hideous words against all Muslims.

Then, hear some of what your Prophet said about conditions similar to what you are in today. He said: ‘He who kills an allied person [person joined with Islam by an agreement in order to give help and support] will not smell the fragrance of Paradise and if he smells it, that would be at a distance of 40 years.’ He also said: ‘A person who rejects a dhimmi [a person from Jewish and Christian minorities] will be whipped with flagella of fire on Judgment Day.’”

This document makes it amply clear that the Armenian massacres of 1909 and the subsequent Genocide of 1915 were not the result of religious conflict between Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians. The Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar rightly condemned the Turks for the mass murder of Armenians, which was committed for racist Pan-Turkic — not Pan-Islamic — reasons, along with the intent of capturing Armenian lands and properties. The various Fatwas issued by Turkish Muftis (clerics) were intended to provoke fanatical Turkish mobs to attack and massacre innocent Armenians.

Sheikh al-Bishri’s 1909 Fatwa was further reinforced by the decree issued in 1917 by Al-Husayn Ibn Ali, the Sharif of Mecca, ordering all Muslims to defend Armenians and “provide everything they might need … because they are the Protected People of the Muslims about whom the Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Whoever takes from them even a rope, I will be his adversary on the day of Judgment.’”

In 2009, when Turkish Prime Minister Rejeb Erdogan stated that “Muslims don’t commit genocide,” he was only partly right. He should have said: “Good Muslims don’t commit genocide.” The leaders of the Young Turk Party who masterminded the Armenian Genocide in 1915 were not faithful Muslims, judging by the teachings of the Quran — the Holy Book of Islam. They were simply criminals who used Islam as a convenient cover to carry out mass murder. The compassionate Fatwa of the Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar still rings true today as the Muslim world celebrates the end of Ramadan.

14:23, 2 August, 2012

YEREVAN, AUGUST 2, ARMENPRESS: New York Times Best-Selling author Chris Bohjalian capped a full day on Capitol Hill with a compelling presentation of  “The Sandcastle Girls,” his newly published novel about the Armenian Genocide, to a standing room only Congressional audience today.  As Armenpress reports citing the Armenian National Committee of America, the event in support of the book, published by Doubleday, was co-hosted by Armenian Genocide Resolution lead sponsors, Representatives Robert Dold (R-IL) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), and the ANCA.

“Today’s strong turn-out on Capitol Hill speaks very powerfully to Chris Bohjalian’s great talent as a story-teller who enlightens, educates, and-ultimately-empowers his readers,” said ANCA Chairman Ken Hachikian. “His work explores-as only art can-the key unresolved human and moral issues of the Armenian Genocide, raising awareness of this crime, even as it reinforces our common resolve to seek its truthful and just resolution.  We look forward to building on this excitement, here in Washington and in communities across our country, to finally get America on the right side of this issue, and to end forever the denial by Turkey of this still unpunished atrocity.”

Community members, who had earlier purchased copies of the book, stood in line to meet the author and have the novel signed before and after the official book presentation. ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian welcomed attendees and cited the important role that works like “The Sandcastle Girls” play in educating mainstream America about the Armenian Genocide and the consequences of Turkey’s Genocide denial.

Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chair Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Representatives Schiff, Jackie Speier (D-CA) and David Cicilline (D-RI), as well as, former U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Evans and his wife Donna joined Congressional staff and community members at the event.  The Armenian Ambassador, Tatoul Markarian, who is on travel outside of Washington, DC, was represented by senior diplomats Antranik Hovhannisyan and Harutyun Kojoyan.  Among the notable figures publicly recognized at the event was popular actress and community activist Anne Bedian (Ani Nahabedian).

Rep. Schiff explained that Bohjalian’s novel,  ”which has been so wonderfully reviewed, has a power of its own, to tell the story in very human terms, to bring us all into the living rooms of those who were lost and those who struggled through those dark times in the history of civilization. I think it is a vital part in the education of not only the Congress, but the Armenian people about the facts of the Armenian Genocide.”

Rep. Pallone told attendees that  ”all of you being here and the author’s efforts constantly bring to our attention the need for recognition of the Armenian Genocide,”  noting that it is an ongoing effort to secure Congressional reaffirmation of this crime.

Bohjalian opened his remarks by thanking the ANCA and the organization’s interns for bringing  ”The Sandcastle Girls”  to a Congressional audience and for their ongoing grassroots effort to represent Armenian American interests on Capitol Hill.  ”One of the things that I have learned is that the ANCA is not merely a force of nature to be reckoned with,” said Bohjalian. ”The ANCA is a profoundly accurate moral compass and I will always be thankful for the profoundly important legislative work that they have done, that they are doing, and that they continue to do. So, I think you so much for taking me in your warm embrace.”

Bohjalian then thanked his readers, referring to them as the “medieval monks of the digital age, because you still care about what words, and reading and books mean to the soul.”

Bohjalian captivated the audience as he discussed the life journey that inspired him to write the book, and gave moving testament of his visits to the lands of his Armenian ancestors, to current day Armenia, and Anjar, Lebanon, the home of many who fought to defend the villages of Musa Dagh during the Genocide.

In a particularly poignant moment, Bohjalian described his last morning in Yerevan, when he caught a clear glimpse of Mount Ararat as he waited to board his flight home.  ”There I was standing, at Gate A5 waiting for my flight, and I started weeping.  I was weeping for my ancestors.  I was weeping for the gift of this mountain and, I was weeping because I knew in my heart that ‘The Sandcastle Girls’ is the most important book that I was ever going to write; and, I was grateful beyond words, that I had been given that gift.”

By: boilingfrogspost

Turkey already has troops in Syria and has threatened military action to protect the site they guard.

A 1921 agreement between Ottoman Turkey and France (the Treaty of Ankara), the latter at the time the colonial administrator of Syria, guaranteed Turkey the right to station military personnel at the mausoleum of Suleyman Shah (Süleyman Şah), the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I (Osman Bey).

Turkey considers the area adjacent to the tomb to be its, and not Syria’s, sovereign territory and late last month reinforced its 15-troop contingent there.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated the following in an interview televised on August 5: “The tomb of Süleyman Şah and the land surrounding it is our territory. We cannot ignore any unfavorable act against that monument, as it would be an attack on our territory, as well as an attack on NATO land. Everyone knows his duty, and will continue to do what is necessary.” The gravesite of a Seljuk sultan who was reputed to have drowned in the Euphrates River while on a campaign of conquest is now proclaimed a NATO outpost in Syria.

If confirmation was required that a neo-Ottoman Turkey is determined to reassert the influence and authority in Mesopotamia it gained 700 years before and lost a century ago and, moreover, that it was doing so as part of a campaign by self-christened global NATO to expand into the Arab world, the Turkish head of state’s threat to militarily intervene in Syria with the support of its 27 NATO allies should provide it.

Especially as the above complements and reinforces the roles of the U.S. and NATO in providing military assistance to Ankara in its current war of attrition against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Turkey and Iraq, with Syria soon to follow as last week Turkey deployed troops, tanks, other armored vehicles and missile batteries to within two kilometers of the Syrian border for war games. Last week a retired Turkish official compared the current anti-Kurdish offensive to the Sri Lankan military’s final onslaught against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) three years ago, ending the 25-year-long war against the latter with its complete annihilation.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s trip to Colombia in April was designed to achieve the same result in the 48-year joint Colombian-U.S. counterinsurgency war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In the current era of international lawlessness, only NATO states and American clients like Colombia and Israel are permitted to conduct military strikes and incursions into other nations and to wage wars of extermination against opponents.

In the same interview cited above, Turkey’s Erdogan asserted the right to continue launching military strikes against Kurdish targets in neighboring countries, stating, “It should be known that as long as the region remains a source of threat[s] for Turkey we will continue staging operations wherever it is needed.”

Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin recently claimed that his nation’s armed forces had killed 130 suspected PKK members and supporters in Hakkari province, which borders Iran and Iraq.

Specifically in respect to military attacks inside Syria, Erdogan stated: “One cannot rule that out. We have three brigades along the border currently conducting maneuvers there. And we cannot remain patient in the face of a mistake that can be made there.”

He also stated, in reference to fighting in the Syrian city of Aleppo, “I believe the Assad regime draws to its end with each passing day” and criticized Iran’s support, which is to say its recognition, of the Syrian government. Iran is the inevitable secondary target of actions directed by Turkey and its NATO and Persian Gulf Arab allies against Syria and will be struck through Iraq also.

In the same interview the Turkish head of state identified a third target: Iraq. He condemned the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, declaring it illegitimate and urging it be overthrown. In what portends confrontation and possible conflict with Iran and Syria as well by exploiting the PKK issue, he added:

“Even though we should be countries that share the same values, for us to be in such rigor [conflict?] only makes the terrorist organization more powerful. This leads us to approach each other with suspicion.”

In the process he criticized Iran as well:

“It is not possible to accept Iran’s stance [of supporting the Iraqi government]. We conveyed this to them at the highest level of talks. We said to them, ‘Look, this has been a source of disturbance in the region.’”

His comments occurred after the Iraqi government criticized the visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to the cities of Kirkuk and Irbil in the Kurdistan Regional Government-controlled north of Iraq in part to secure oil and natural gas deals with the regime of Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish autonomous region. Irbil is the region’s capital, but Kirkuk is claimed by Iraq’s central government too. Davutoglu’s trip to Kirkuk was the first by a Turkish foreign minister since 1937.

On August 7 Hurriyet Daily News columnist Murat Yetkin offered this perspective on the matter:

“Because Iraq [is] at risk of falling apart. Massoud Barzani, the leader of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in the north of the country, which borders Turkey, has started to sign oil and gas deals with energy giants despite the objection of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, who refuses to approve a hydrocarbons law to regulate the sharing of oil and gas income. The energy giants have an interest in supplying more oil and gas that is not controlled or is less controlled by Russia and Iran to Western markets; Turkey provides an option under NATO protection for both Iraqi Kurdish and Azeri resources to be transferred further west. The presence of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the KRG region and its armed campaign is, of course, a pain in the neck and a big obstacle to greater cooperation…”

On July 26 the same commentator claimed that “There are already political and economic actors trying to push Turkey to claim some energy-rich parts of Iraq and Syria, which would mean a regime change such as a federated Turkey, with Kurdish and possibly Arabic members,” which, he conceded, “could drag the whole region into a chain reaction of wars.”

Part of Turkey’s justification for involvement in northern Iraq, and another pretext for potential military intervention, is the protection of their ethnic kin, the Turkmen, in the country.

However, since the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq in 2003 the true indigenous people of the north, the Assyrians, have been decimated by attacks from Barzani’s peshmergas and Saudi-backed Wahhabi extremists without Turkey, or the West, being in the least degree concerned. Eight years ago there were an estimated 1.5 million Assyrian and other Christians in Iraq; now there under 500,000. Churches have been destroyed and in 2008 the Chaldean Catholic Archeparch of Mosul, Archbishop Mar Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped and murdered in the northern Iraqi city where he resided. Other religious minorities – Mandeans, Sabeans and Yezidis – have suffered the same fate. Shiites are regularly targeted by Wahhabi death squads.

The Barzani domain in the north has become a Turkish foothold inside the country, which has aided Ankara by preventing the PKK from operating on its territory and suppressing its sympathizers. It is also a dependable Sunni ally for Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies in efforts to weaken the Shiite-led government in Baghdad. The al-Maliki administration condemned last week’s visit by the Turkish foreign minister to the Kurdish-dominated north as a violation of Iraq’s constitution and national sovereignty as Davutoglu had neither requested nor obtained permission to enter Kirkuk.

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry handed the Turkish chargé d’affaires in Baghdad a harshly-worded statement and the Turkish Foreign Minister in response summoned the Iraqi ambassador to lodge a protest.

With Turkish threats against Iraq and Syria, and by inevitable implication Iran, mounting, on August 6 the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Seyed Hassan Firuzabadi, warned that:

“Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey are responsible for blood being shed on Syrian soil.

“This is not an appropriate precedent, that neighboring countries of Syria contribute to the belligerent purposes of…the United States. If these countries have accepted such a precedent, they must be aware that after Syria, it will be the turn of Turkey and other countries.

He added that Iran fears “Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have become victims of promoting the terrorism of al-Qaeda and we warn our friends about this.”

On the same day Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian stated, “There is a question that when al-Qaeda plays an active role in Syrian terrorism and violence, why the US and other countries back the shipment of heavy and semi-heavy weapons to the country?”

Kazem Jalali, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said that “Turkey and those who support and arm terrorists” in Syria were responsible for the safety of 48 Iranians kidnapped in the country on August 4.

By: boilingfrogspost

The following day the Turkish press reported that Osman Karahan, a Turkish lawyer who defended a suspected top-level al-Qaeda operative accused of participating in deadly bomb attacks in Istanbul in November of 2003 was killed in Aleppo fighting with anti-government forces. In 2006 the Turkish government charged Karahan with aiding and abetting al-Qaeda.

Syria has announced that it captured several Turkish and Saudi military officers in Aleppo. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have established a base in the Turkish city of Adana, 60 miles from the Syrian border, to supply weapons and training to Syrian rebels for cross-border attacks.

The Turkish government is providing bases, training and advisers for al-Qaeda and other participants in the insurrection against the Syrian government at the same time that it is threatening Syria, Iraq and Iran over the “terrorist” Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

In bordering Iran, Iraq and Syria, Turkey provides NATO – and through NATO the Pentagon – direct access to those three nations. The final stage in the West’s Greater Missile East Initiative is now well underway, as is a new redivision of the Levant modeled after the Anglo-French Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916.

In 1999, Turkish television aired footage of Gülen delivering sermons to a crowd of followers in which he revealed his aspirations for an Islamist Turkey ruled by Shari‘a (Islamic law) as well as the methods that should be used to attain that goal. In the sermons, he said:

“You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers … until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria … like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it … You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey … Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] confronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence … trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here.” – Fetullah Gulen, Founder of Gulen Schools now operating in the USA

Gülen’s Background

Born in Erzurum, Turkey, in 1942, Fethullah Gülen is an imam who considers himself a prophet.[4] An enigmatic figure, many in the West applaud him as a reformist and advocate for tolerance,[5] a catalyst of “moderate Islam” for Turkey and beyond. He is praised in the West, especially in the United States, as an intellectual, scholar, and educator[6] even though his formal education is limited to five years of elementary school. After receiving an imam-preacher certificate, he served as an imam, first in Erdirne and later in Izmir. In 1971, the Turkish security service arrested him for clandestine religious activities, such as running illegal summer camps to indoctrinate youths, and was, from that time on, occasionally harassed by the staunchly secular military.[7] In 1981, he formally retired from his post as a local preacher.

Here’s the grotesque background on these jihadists:

Outcry in Turkey as Un-Published Book “The Imam’s Army” on Fethullah Gulen is Hunted, Destroyed MEMRI

Turkish publishers, writers and legal professionals protest the “undemocratic and unconstitutional” police raids to hunt and destroy the draft of the book, as main opposition (CHP) leader says “Even Hitler or Mussolini had not done this”.

Yesterday, armed with an order of the Ergenekon court and under instructions by the special prosecutor of the case, Zekeriya Oz, to find and confiscate every existing copy of the draft book, the police raided the offices and print houses of the publisher that was to publish the book upon its completion, and of Radikal where Sik worked..

The author of the book, the award winning, prominent journalist Ahmet Sik, was recently arrested and jailed for writing and intending to publish his book, titled “The Imam’s Army”. At the time of his arrest, Sik had said to the crowds: “Whoever touches them (i.e. Gulenists) gets burned!” Indeed most of the arrested journalists had written about Gulen’s infiltration of the police force and/or his involvement with Ergenekon, an allegedly armed, terrorist organization that planned to topple the AKP government.

The court issued an order to collect all copies of the draft and asked anyone (including Sik’s family members) who held a copy to submit it to the court, threatening that those who failed to submit the drafts would be charged with “membership in an illegal organization” and for “aiding and abetting terrorists”.

*This information published on http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com

Turkish colonel says headscarf a “symbol of terrorism”
June 28, 2012 – 12:50 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Turkish Col. Ali Çakmakkaya, a judge, describes the headscarf as a “symbol of terrorism” in a voice recording, in which he also uses profanity while referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his wife, Emine Erdoğan.

According to Today’s Zaman, the voice recording was released on Twitter on Tuesday, June 26, although the date of the recording remains unknown. A caption provided with the recording says Çakmakkaya made the statements in an official military setting.

Criticizing Erdoğan for not wearing a tie during his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Çakmakkaya says Erdoğan had put an end to state culture in Turkey. He talks about the wives of Erdoğan and Assad: “You look at the wife of the other [Assad]; she is pretty modern and [looks] European.” [Read more…]