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Europe old Colonial power: Germany, France, UK, dispute US President ‘Islamic State’ not defeated in Syria

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Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have both said that “Islamic State” remains a threat in Syria. All three appeared to dispute US President Donald Trump’s claimed that the militants had been vanquished.

Washington’s European allies in the fight against “Islamic State” (IS) on Thursday appeared to dispute President Trump’s claim that the jihadi group had been defeated.

While announcing that the US would soon pull troops out of the country, Trump claimed that the IS militant group in Syria had been vanquished.

But international allies in the fight against IS — such as France, Germany and the UK — were somewhat surprised by the optimistic appraisal.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Washington’s “abrupt change of course” had put the fight against IS at risk.

“IS has been pushed back but the threat is not yet over,” Germany’s Foreign Office tweeted. There is a danger that the consequences of this decision will damage the fight against IS and jeopardize the successes already achieved.”

Germany currently has some 1,200 personnel involved in the fight against IS in Syria, including those invovled in refueling, naval, and training operations.

France: IS and its roots endure

Meanwhile, French Defense Minister Florence Parly acknowledged that the group had been significantly weakened, she said the battle was not over.

“Islamic State has not been wiped from the map, nor have its roots elsewhere. The last pockets of this terrorist organization must be defeated militarily once and for all,” Parly said on Twitter.

Some 2,000 US forces are in Syria at present, most of them on a train-and-advise mission for local forces fighting IS. France has an undisclosed number of special forces on the ground in Syria as part of the US-led coalition there, as well as fighter jets in Jordan and artillery along the Syrian border in Iraq.

UK: Still a threat without territory

Britain, which takes part in air strikes as part of the coalition effort, said it was important not to underestimate the threat that IS still poses.

In a statement late Thursday, the British Foreign Office said important advances had been made in recent days, but added that “much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose.”

“Even without territory, Daesh will remain a threat,” the statement said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

While the Foreign Office statement diplomatically avoided a contradiction of Trump’s assessment, junior Defense Minister Tobias Ellwood was more blunt, saying he “strongly” disagreed.

French prisoner Redoine Faid escapes from Paris prison in helicopter

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Redoine Faid escapes

A notorious escape artist has again broken out of a French prison. This time he used a helicopter to flee detention.

French-Algerian career criminal Redoine Faid broke out of a Paris prison on Sunday in a daring escape. The 46-year-old career thief escaped Reau prison by helicopter in a daylight break, authorities said.

According to reports, three accomplices, armed with Kalashnikovs, showed up at the prison entrance demanding Faid’s release. At the same time, a helicopter landed in the prison courtyard, the only part of the complex not covered by anti-helicopter netting. The gunmen then removed Faid from the visiting room, where he had been talking with his brother, and fled in the helicopter.

Breakneck breakout

France’s Justice Ministry said Redoine Faid’s escape only took “a few minutes” and nobody was injured or taken hostage. French prosecutors opened an investigation and police started a manhunt after Faid’s escape. “Everything is being done to locate the fugitive,” an official at the French interior ministry said.

The pilot of the helicopter used in Sunday’s escape is an instructor who had been taken hostage, according to Le Parisien. He was found in Gonesse (Val-d’Oise) to the north of Paris, and was being questioned by the police.

Tough upbringing

Faid’s escape came after an appeals court sentenced him to 25 years for masterminding an armed robbery in 2010, during which a police officer was killed. It is the second time Faid has broken out of prison. In 2013, he took four prison guards hostage, then used dynamite to blast his way out, fleeing in a waiting getaway car, only to be recaptured six weeks later.

Faid grew up in the French capital’s tough immigrant suburbs. He has said his life of crime was inspired by movies such as “Scarface” and “Heat.” He has co-authored several books about his delinquent youth and his life as a criminal in Paris.

kw,aw/ng (AFP, EFE, Reuters)

Anthony Bourdain cremated in France

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Anthony Bourdain cremated in France

Chef, writer and television host Anthony Bourdain has reportedly been cremated in France, just days after he died by suicide.

Bourdain’s ashes are expected to be flown back to the United States on Friday, a source claimed to People Magazine, according to the Daily Mail.

At the same time, the Parts Unknown star’s girlfriend Asia Argento was seen with Rose McGowan and two other friends, listening to the song ‘Jesus Was a Cross Maker’ by Judee Sill, a singer who died by suicide at age 35. The actress also shared a picture of her back, where the word “save”’ superimposed on the photo.

Days after Bourdain’s death, Argento shared her grief on social media, calling him an inspiration and herself ‘beyond devastated’.

“Anthony gave all of himself in everything that he did. His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds. He was my love, my rock, my protector. I am beyond devastated. My thoughts are with his family. I would ask that you respect their privacy and mine,” Argento wrote.

After calls to change the Quran, Turkey moves to ban all things French

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Pro-Islamist demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against France near the French Consulate, Istanbul, Turkey, May 9, 2018.

Pinar Tremblay,

It all started April 21, with news of the Manifesto against the New Anti-Semitism. The declaration, written by Philippe Val, former director of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, was signed by more than 250 intellectuals, artists and politicians, including former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The manifesto — which calls on theologians to delete Quranic verses that suggest the killing and punishment of Christians, Jews and non-believers — generated strong reactions among Muslims. Although the text does not explain how, the idea was that the abrogation of these parts of the Quran would lead to “French-style Islam.” Muslims in France and around the world reacted to the request by attempting to explain the verses within their historical contexts and dismissed the idea of removing sections as unacceptable.

Turkish reaction to the declaration came May 6, when Omer Celik, minister of EU affairs and chief negotiator for Turkish accession to the EU, posted a series of tweets in Turkish and in English criticizing the manifesto. He claimed the signatories of the document have an ideological affinity with the Islamic State. Turkish presidency spokesman Ibrahim Kalin posted two tweets, the first explaining the declaration and the second stating his view that the Quran cannot be altered and that if the West wants to solve the problem of anti-Semitism, the West should look at itself because the problem originated in Europe.

One of the strongest reactions came from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At the May 8 parliamentary meeting of his Justice and Development Party (AKP), Erdogan delivered an angry speech not only against the declaration and its signatories, but also aimed at France and the West generally, calling them “despicable.” To his nonstop cheering fans, the president said:

An impertinent group appeared in France the other day and issued a declaration asking for some verses to be removed from the Quran. It is so obvious that those who say that have no idea what the Quran is, but have they ever read their own book, the Bible? Or the Torah? Or Psalms? If they had read it, they would probably want the Bible to be banned as well. But they never have such a problem. The more we warn Western countries about hostility to Islam, hostility to Turks, xenophobia and racism, the more we get a bad reputation. Hey the West! Look! … The more you attack our holy book, we will not attack yours. But we will knock you down. Who are you to attack our holy scriptures? We know how despicable you are.

Pro-AKP media and commentators promptly joined in, lashing out at France and positioning Erdogan as the protector of Islam. Also, on May 10, the Turkish Council of Higher Education (YOK) announced that 16 new university faculties of French language and literature will not be accepting students. The 19 existing departments will continue with enrollments. News outlets reported that the council justified its decision not simply in response to the manifesto, but also on the basis of reciprocity — that is, the claim that there are no Turkish language and literature studies in France — plus the assertion that the market does not need more graduates from French language departments. The council also announced a ban on establishing additional France language and literature departments.

Frustrated AKP opponents reacted strongly to the council’s action. For example, Sinan Ogan, a former lawmaker from the Nationalist Action Party, tweeted that if Erdogan were actually serious about retaliating against the manifesto as well as French support of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party, he should cancel the agreement he signed with France to buy 25 Airbus planes. Indeed, Erdogan had lashed out at the French government for its support of the Syrian Kurds in March, but then shifted his focus to defending Islam. A sociology professor at a government university told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Erdogan needs some of the Kurdish vote, so we are witnessing him slowly easing out of ultra-nationalistic rhetoric and into a more Islamist one, struggling to embrace the Kurds.”

Opposition members also pointed to the inaccuracy of the allegation that there are no Turkish language departments in France. In fact, such departments were founded as early as 1795.

A French diplomatic source told Al-Monitor by email, “In Turkey, Francophonie is historically present in education, with a network of around 15 bilingual schools, among them the prestigious Galatasaray High School, whose 150th anniversary is being celebrated this year. Galatasaray University is a Francophone Turkish university and the Institut Français de Turquie, the language and cultural center under the umbrella of the embassy, is active in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir. Turkish language and Turkish studies are also developed in France. Departments exist in such important higher education institutions as the National Institute for Languages and Oriental Civilizations in Paris, University of Lyon, University of Aix-Marseille and University of Strasbourg. The Turkish language is also taught to 17,000 pupils in the French education system through the ELCO program.” ELCO — Enseignements langues et cultures d’origine, or Teaching of Language and Culture of Origin — was founded in the 1970s to educate immigrants in their native tongues alongside their French educations.

On May 14, the Islamist daily Yeni Akit took things a step further, calling for a “ban on French literature, music and cinema” under the headline “YOK’s Slap to France.” Ibrahim Kiras, senior editor of Karar, a newspaper founded by formerly pro-AKP journalists, shared a photo of the headline and asked whether the government employees who made false statements would be held to account given that the allegations about the Turkish language not being taught in France were false.

Despite the efforts by the government and its media supporters, the public did not buy into the outrage over the manifesto. Conversations with Islamists and conservatives pointed to three reasons. First, Turkish citizens have become desensitized to Erdogan’s outbursts. One senior bureaucrat told Al-Monitor, “The manifesto is Islamophobic, but we [the AKP] have failed to punish our own for ridiculing verses from the Quran. How can we throw stones at non-Muslims?”

Second, the public feels that angry and hateful rhetoric against the West does not benefit them. A member of a prominent Muslim nongovernmental organization took Erdogan to task, telling Al-Monitor, “Scolding the West and calling them names have lost their impact when you [still] go visit these countries and keep playing by their systems. There is no proper policy behind Erdogan’s anger. We have not forgot how he distanced himself from the Mavi Marmara [Gaza] flotilla victims by saying, ‘Whom did they ask before they departed?’” The suggestion that what happened to those on the flotilla was their fault galled Turks.

Third, the government’s refusal to accept new students into French language departments coupled with the false assertion of reciprocity were viewed as counterproductive. Almost 2.5 million students are preparing for the University Entrance Exam in Turkey this year. Fewer than 500,000 will be accepted into four-year colleges. Hence, announcing the closure of departments is not the kind of news that will lead to citizens rejoicing. A number of social media postings said the AKP’s response serves only to punish its own people, validating the Turkish saying that “rancid vinegar damages its own barrel.”

Pinar Tremblay is a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse and a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

France president Macron Vows to Reform Islam in France

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Emmanuel Macron, President of France. (Photo by Dan Kitwood

Emmanuel Macron, President of France. (Photo by Dan Kitwood

“It is time to bring in a new generation.”

by Soeren Kern

  • The overall objective of President Macron’s plan is to ensure that French law takes precedence over Islamic law for Muslims living in the country.
  • The plan, as currently conceived, is vague and short on details, but appears to involve three broad pillars: determining who will represent Muslims in France; delineating how Islam in France will be financed; and defining how imams in France will be trained.
  • “It is time to bring in a new generation. We have seen fifteen years of debate to defend the interests of foreign states.” — Hakim el-Karoui, a French-Tunisian expert on Islam who is advising Macron on the reforms.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a declared effort to “fight fundamentalism” and “preserve national cohesion,” has promised to “lay the groundwork for the entire reorganization of Islam in France.”

According to Macron, the plan, similar in ambition to Austria’s Islam Law, is aimed at seeking to “better integrate” Islam in France in order to “place it in a more peaceful relationship with the state.”

A key priority is to reduce outside interference by restricting foreign funding for mosques, imams and Muslim organizations in France. The plan’s overall objective is to ensure that French law takes precedence over Islamic law for Muslims living in the country.

In a February 11 interview with the Journal du Dimanche, Macron said that the plan, which is being coordinated by the Interior Ministry, will be announced within the next six months: “We are working on the structuring of Islam in France and also on how to explain it,” Macron said. “My goal is to rediscover what lies at the heart of secularism—the possibility of being able to believe as well as not to believe—in order to preserve national cohesion and the possibility of having free religious conscience.”

Macron also said that he was consulting a broad array of experts and religious leaders for their input into the reform plan: “I see intellectuals and academics, such as [French Islam expert] Gilles Kepel, and representatives of all religions, because I think we need to draw heavily on our history, the history of Catholics and Protestants.” He added:

“I will never ask any French citizen to be moderate in his religion or to believe moderately in his God. That would not make much sense. But I will ask everyone, constantly, to absolutely respect all the rules of the Republic.”

Macron’s plan, as currently conceived, is vague and short on details, but appears to involve three broad pillars: determining who will represent Muslims in France; delineating how Islam in France will be financed; and defining how imams in France will be trained.

Representation of Muslims in France

A key aspect of Macron’s plan is to reform the French Council of the Muslim Faith (Conseil français du culte musulman, CFCM), the official interlocutor between Muslims and the state in the regulation of Islam in France. The organization, which represents approximately 2,500 mosques in France, was established in 2003 by then Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

The CFCM has long faced criticism for being ineffective and contentious, largely because the rotating presidency has allowed interference by foreign countries—mainly Algeria, Morocco and Turkey—seemingly to prevent Muslims from integrating into French society. Macron said the objective was to end what he called “consular Islam” and to open the CFCM to “the most integrated” Muslims.

“It is time to bring in a new generation,” said Hakim el-Karoui, a French-Tunisian expert on Islam who is advising Macron on the reforms. “We have seen fifteen years of debate to defend the interests of foreign states.”

The Interior Ministry intends to have its reforms in place by 2019, when the CFCM will hold elections to renew its leadership. “The moment is propitious for advancing the necessary reforms,” said Anouar Kbibech, former president of the CFCM.

Macron’s plan also reportedly involves establishing a “Grand Imam of France,” modeled on the position of Chief Rabbi. The individual would have the “moral authority” to represent Islam in front of the state. It remains unclear how such an individual would reconcile the competing strains of Islam to be able to represent them all.

Financing Islam in France

Macron’s second priority is to “reduce the influence of Arab countries,” which, he argues, “prevent French Islam from returning to modernity.” His plan would restrict foreign governments or entities from funding Muslim places of worship and training imams in France. Hundreds of French mosques are being financed by countries in the North African Maghreb and Persian Gulf.

The new plan would also attempt to illuminate the financial dealings of mosques by bringing them under the jurisdiction of a French law that regulates cultural associations. French mosques currently adhere to a law that regulates non-profit associations, which allows for more opaque bookkeeping.

Macron raised the possibility of revising the 1905 “Law on the Separation of the Churches and State,” which established state secularism in France. The 1905 law, among other provisions, banned government funding of religious groups in France. Addressing the prospect that French taxpayers might soon be asked to pay for Muslims to worship in France, Macron said: “The 1905 law is part of a treasure that is ours, but it did not consider the religious fact of Islam because it was not present in our society, as it is today.”

Macron’s plan reportedly also envisages establishing a so-called Halal Tax, a sales tax on halal products to finance Islam in France. The proposal faces fierce resistance from French Muslims, 70% of whom are opposed to establishing the tax, according to an Ifop poll for JDD.

Training Imams in France

Several hundred imams in France are civil servants whose salaries are paid by foreign governments. Interior Minister Gérard Collomb said the French government “should intervene” in the training of imams so that they are “imams of the French Republic,” not “imams of foreign countries.”

In an interview with Radio France Inter, Collomb said: “We can see that today we have a number of difficulties simply because nowadays everyone can proclaim himself to be an imam.”

Macron’s plan has been received with a mix of optimism, skepticism and derision.

Ghaleb Bencheikh, a French-Algerian Islamic reformist and a former president of the Great Mosque of Paris, said that Macron’s approach was “legitimate” and “interesting.” In an interview with Radio France, Bencheikh said:

“There is a terrible paradox that you have to know how to break. We are in a secular state and this sacrosanct principle of secularism stipulates that political authority should not interfere in the structure of a cult, whatever it may be. At the same time, there must be structure and privileged interlocutors of political power. The Muslim leaders are cautious, pusillanimous, they have not managed this structure. As a result, it is legitimate for both the President of the Republic and Interior Minister Gérard Collomb to insist on a healthy structure.”

Le Figaro noted with skepticism that previous French presidents have made similar pledges which ended in failure:

“Will Emmanuel Macron succeed where his predecessors have failed? The urgency, in any event, is very real. Last December, a Muslim leader from Bouches-du-Rhône declared: ‘The Salafists have taken control of the ground in France. There is a void, notably with the problem of imams who do not speak French.'”

In an interview with Les Echos, National Front Leader Marine Le Pen said she was worried about a possible challenge to the law separating churches and state: “There are a whole series of tracks, some of which are unbearable, unacceptable: for example, the idea of ​​a Concordat, the idea of ​​touching the law of 1905.”

She called for France to take hard line on foreign financing of Islam: “I suggest stopping foreign financing of mosques and closing Salafist mosques. Any foreign imam who makes a speech contrary to the values ​​of the Republic must be expelled.”

Florian Philippot, former vice president of the National Front and a Member of the European Parliament, said that Macron’s plan was not aimed at returning to a “secular Republic” but to “protect Muslims.”

In early January, during a meeting at the Elysée Palace with representatives of the six main religions in France (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist), Macron announced that he would deliver a “major” but “dispassionate” speech on secularism during his presidency: “My wish for 2018 is that France become, with you, a model of secularism, knowing how to listen to the country’s voices in their diversity, capable of building on this diversity a great nation reconciled and open to the future.”

Less than a week later, however, Macron abruptly backtracked. The speech apparently was “removed from the agenda” because talking about secularism “in the context only of Islam” would be a “fatal mistake.”

Columnist Hélène Jouan accused Macron of trying to play both sides against the middle:

“Emmanuel Macron is credited with holding a subtle balance between unfailing attachment to Republican principles, and absolute firmness vis-à-vis radical Islam.

“The president prefers to evade. I’m not sure that this will last. A tragic event in France would push him, of course, to reveal himself, at the risk, then, of alienating those who would judge, from the right or left, that he does too much or not enough, to lose his position of ‘centrality’ which he thinks he holds on the question. In the meantime, however, he buys time.”

France: Migrant Crisis Spirals Out of Control

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by Soeren Kern,

  • French Interior Minister Gérard Collomb described the level of violence in Calais as “unprecedented.” He attributed the fighting to an escalating turf war between Afghan and Kurdish gangs seeking to gain control over human trafficking between Calais and Britain, which many migrants view as “El Dorado” because of its massive underground economy.
  • During his visit to Calais, Macron outlined his government’s new immigration policy: food and shelter for those entitled to remain in France, and deportation of those in the country illegally.
  • “Emmanuel Macron did it. Never before has a president of the Republic fallen into unpopularity so fast and then become popular again.” — Paris Match.

Hundreds of Africans and Asians armed with knives and iron rods fought running street battles in the northern port city of Calais on February 1, less than two weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron visited the area and pledged to crack down on illegal immigration.

The clashes plunged Calais — emblematic of Europe’s failure to control mass migration — into a war zone and reinforced the perception that French authorities have lost control of the country’s security situation.

The mass brawls, fought in at least three different parts of Calais, erupted after a 37-year-old Afghan migrant running a human trafficking operation fired gunshots at a group of Africans who did not have money to pay for his services. Five Africans suffered life-threatening injuries.

Sonia Mabrouk (CNews) questions Turkey’s ambassador and introduces Armenian genocide

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The excellent CNews journalist, Sonia Mabrouk, on January 25 interviewed Turkey’s ambassador to France, Ismail Hakki Musa, on the Turkish offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria.

On the possible Syrian civilian casualties caused by Turkey’s attacks, the ambassador woefully misunderstood in reply to the CNews reporter: ” One thing is clear, we are driven by an ancestral desire to protect as much as possible Civilians … “ What Sonia Mabrouk retorted in a parallel with the genocide of the Armenians:” It reminds us of dark hours , “she told him. Ismail Hakki Musa noted the journalist’s skill while not understanding what the Armenian question was doing in the debate. Probably he did not remember what he said a minute ago …

According to the blogger journalist Maxime Azadi “The assessment of a week in Afrin: 59 civilians massacred, 134 wounded. 49 FDS fighters lost their lives. 308 Turkish soldiers and mercenaries killed including four officers and a commander of the mercenaries. 699 shells fired and 191 airstrikes took place, according to the FDS. “This tweet was published on the journalist’s page Friday, January 26 at 12h.

Friday, January 26, 2018,
Jean Eckian © armenews.com

CCAF the French of Armenian origin expect firmness from President Macron against Erdogan visit

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The reception of President Erdogan on Friday, January 5th (Armenian Christmas Eve) is causing trouble among the Armenian community in France. The defenders of democracy, human rights and minorities fear that France will not show sufficient firmness in the face of the Turkish President who has taken good care, for several years, to multiply insults and provocations against of Europe and its leaders. Moreover, this visit to France comes in a climate fraught with threats against the representatives of the Armenian communities and Turkish opponents refugees in Europe, as reported on December 20 a statement from Garo Paylan deputy HDP.

The President of the Republic promised to address the issue of human rights during his meeting with his Turkish counterpart. The French of Armenian origin, in the grip of the Ankara maneuvers that made the export of the genocide denial of 1915 a priority of his foreign policy, expect no less. In particular, they ask Emmanuel Macron not to dodge the problem of the Armenian genocide which is at the root of the criminal and expansionist pursuits of successive Turkish regimes for a hundred years. A fascinating tradition which unfortunately finds today in Mr. Erdogan a worthy heir.

Thus, 5 years later, almost to the day, the assassination of three Kurdish activists in Paris, in which the justice had pointed out the involvement of the Turkish secret services, is preparing to roll out the red carpet in front of the head of this Genocidal state even before becoming a terrorist and a liberticide? Because we are not mistaken: the terrible repression of which the people of Turkey and the democrats of this country are paying the price today, is part of a long tradition of political persecution, which reached its peak with the genocide of the Armenians, but which has also resulted in successive massacres against the Christian, Greek, Assyrian-Chaldean, Kurdish, Alevi, Turkish Democrat minorities, not to mention the occupation of Cyprus, a member of the European Union. The big powers and Europe bear a heavy responsibility in this situation. The international complacency towards all these crimes nourishes indeed for one hundred years the arrogance of a power which does not cease to taunt the democracies, to trample on their values, while claiming themselves unduly of their camp. The liabilities are heavy for Turkey.

Violence and duplicity are at the heart of the actions of this state, including against France, as evidenced by the fact that, in addition to the murder of Kurdish activists in Paris, the arrests in the form of hostages taken against French journalists in 2016 and 2017. What’s more – should we call him back? – its ultra-nationalism, with its 20-year history of Islamism, poses a threat to its neighbors, in particular the Republic of Armenia, against which the Turkish state is blockading and continues to spread hatred. This situation also requires a response from the highest officials of the international political scene.

CCAF National Office (Coordinating Council of Armenian Organizations in France

Armenian Genocide memorial desecrated in France’s Vienne

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A memorial erected in the French town of Vienne to pay tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was desecrated Saturday, November 4, French media and several Twitter users reported.

The Coordination Council of the Armenian Organizations of France (CCAF) denounced “with the greatest firmness the profanation” and said that “the insulting stains covering the monument constitute a new attack on the human dignity and the memory the victims”.

Meanwhile, Vienne County Councilor Erwann Binet was one of the firsts to react on social networks, saying he was “shocked and dismayed”.

This new attack comes as France has no legal means to penalize the deniers of Armenian Genocide.

Some three dozen countries, hundreds of local government bodies and international organizations have so far recognized the killings of 1.5 million Armenian in the Ottoman Empire as genocide. Turkey denies to this day.