Gagrule.net

Gagrule.net News, Views, Interviews worldwide

Azerbaijani citizens heavily involved 300 killed with Islamic State, Iraq holds 21 foreign children

By

by ,

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Azerbaijan intelligence services are investigating reports that hundreds of the country’s nationals had been killed fighting for Islamic State in Iraq.

Madat Guliyev, head of the State Security service (intelligence) told reporters they had received information that 300 Azerbaijani nationals had been killed fighting for Islamic State in Iraq. He said agency workers were sent to Iraq to verify the reports.

He said those had been “taken in by the propaganda and joined Daesh (IS)”, adding that their families and children accompanied them. “There are information of deaths, even among those children,” the official was quoted saying by Russian agency Interfax.

According to Guliyev, intelligence services in Azerbaijan had detained 85 people over charges of joining the extremist group. He put the total of Azerbaijani citizens who had joined the group since the start of the war at 900.

Citizenship has been stripped from 195 suspects, according to Guliyev.

Also on Sunday, the Iraqi government said it holds  21 foreign children linked to Islamic State members.

The Iraqi Labor and Social Affairs Ministry said it had handed over five Chechen children to their families. Ministry official Abeer al-Chalabi said they still do not possess exact statistics of foreign Islamic State fighters’ families, but were in continued efforts and contacts to deliver the rest.

Last Monday, authorities in Nineveh Province said they were preparing to deport over 500 wives of foreign Islamic State militants to their home countries after they had illegally entered the country three years earlier.

Iraqi forces had said they were holding nearly 1,400 family members of Islamic State fighters who had turned themselves in with Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

Media: Azerbaijan intending to join Islamic military alliance

By

Azerbaijan is planning its accession to the Islamic Military Alliance which is called an analog of NATO a number of mass media.

As haqqin.az  reported quoting dunyanews.tv, together with Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Indonesia made  decision to join the organization increasing the number of the countries of the military block to 42.

For the first time the idea of creation of Islamic military alliance was announced in 2005 by the then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. However, the actual implementation of this idea was carried out in Saudi Arabia due to the need of fight against ISIL.

In the same Islamist Turkey Armenians Dead can not rest in peace

By

armenian-dead-in-turkeyWhat the Ottomans did during the 1915 genocide (and what Turkey is today) is much like what the Islamic state.

While in most places of the world, one is shocked by the atrocities committed by the Islamic state against non-Muslim communities in Syria and Iraq, a non-Muslim community in Turkey, the Armenians suffered for decades – essentially abandoned by the world.

This was done by the Ottomans during the 1915 genocide (and what Turkey is today) is very similar to e that makes the Islamic state. Draw parallels between past and present is very useful for understanding the continuity, universality and horror of the jihadist Islamic genocide.

Although 101 years have passed since the 1915 genocide befell Armenian Christians, committed by the Ottoman Empire, the few houses, churches and even cemeteries remaining victims are still being targeted by both state authorities and local authorities in Turkey. For the most part, the public is also complicit, keeping silent about these injustices.

Today, Armenians, their ancient homeland within Turkey’s borders were virtually extinct. But in Turkey, even the dead Armenians are not allowed to rest in peace.

“Dozens of graves were dug and bones were dug up,” says Aziz Dagci, the head of the Association of Armenian minorities, who filed a criminal complaint in the city of Mush, made for destruction of tombs, some were dug in the 1800s.

“They must they cease to excavate our graves. Only found there our dead, “he said. “And they should also stop destroying our monastery.”

Most of the world’s media are silent on the abuse of human rights which Armenians and other Christians suffer in Turkey. Their only point of attachment is apparently the Islamic state. It is regrettable to see that the Armenians and other Christians suffer in Turkey, a NATO member country.

In 2013, for example, 500 Armenian historical houses in the Kale district of Muş were demolished as part of the governmental “urban renewal” (see a video house demolition).

“This total destruction of a culture …,” wrote researcher Varak Ketsemanian, “is a constant policy of the Turkish government; he uses it as an instrument of propaganda against against Armenian claims that affirm their presence in these lands before 1915. Although this policy has no massacres or deportation, it is the continuation of the same policy adopted in 1915 “.

Again, in 2013, a restaurant was built on the Armenian cemetery in the town of Tekirdag in Thrace to the east.

“During the construction, the bones in the cemetery were scattered everywhere and some were thrown into the garbage. The gravestones, stolen from the cemetery in the city, were used as tiles above grave looks and stones were found elsewhere on the site infrastructure works, “reports the newspaper Taraf.

Taraf also reported that in the town of Sivas Central Anatolia, “the Armenian cemetery in the city was plundered during the construction of a road and human bones scattered on the sides of the road. It is not known what happened to the tombstones. “

Mush was a lively Armenian community before 1915. The statistics montren qu’avat genocide, 140,555 Armenians lived in 339 villages of Mush. There were 228 churches, 94 monasteries, 53 sacred places and 135 schools with 5669 students. The city is also the subject of many songs and Armenian folk tales, the love song “Golo”, performed by Armenian singer Hasmik Harutyunyan.

According to the Ottoman census of 1917, however, 99 percent of Armenians in the region were declared “missing”. Obviously, the term ‘disappeared’ in the Ottoman Turkish dictionary means “killed” or “deported” – and by the most brutal methods imaginable.

“Some of the children were burned alive, others were poisoned or drowned, died of hunger or disease,” according to the Museum-Institute of the Armenian Genocide.

“I’m sure,” said Henry Morgenthau, the US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, “that the entire history of the human race contains no episode so horrible.” The great massacres and persecutions of the past seem presqu’insignifiantes compared to the sufferings of the Armenian race in 1915. (*)

Most Armenians were eradicated of Mush, as in the rest of Turkey. “[Officially], there are now 3000 Armenians in Mush, but here are said to be more,” said the director of the Center for Studies of the Armenian Question Western, Haykazun Alvrtsyan in 2014, which added “they are at least 2.5 million ‘Muslim Armenians’, half hiding.”

Given the unlimited intolerance against any reminiscence of Armenians in Turkey, the ‘hidden Armenians’ seem to have justified reasons not to disclose their ethnic or religious affiliation.

In a country where even the bones in the Armenian cemeteries are not respected, being Armenian is a difficult test to survive each day.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist formerly based in Ankara today in Washington DC.

(*) The Armenian Genocide: the essential reference guide by Alan Whitehorrn ABC-CLIO 2015 Editions

Translation Gilbert Béguian

http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/islamist-turkey-even-dead-armenians-cant-lie-peacefully#_edn1

Sunday, October 30, 2016,
Stéphane © armenews.com

DW: Turkey’s ruling AKP party has history of links to Islamist groups

By

Erdogan-Islamic-TiaThe German Interior Ministry has said that, based on information from Germany’s intelligence service, BND, it believes Turkey has “developed into a central platform of activity for Islamist groups in the Middle East.”

As an example of the “ideological affinity” between the Turkish government and Islamist groups, the ministry cited Turkey’s ties to the Palestinian group Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, as well as armed Islamist opposition groups in Syria.

With regard to Hamas, the German government takes its cue from the European Union, which has classed the group as a terrorist organization since 2003. Whereas the West was shocked when Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections in the Palestinian territories, Turkey’s AKP government received a Hamas delegation in Ankara, validating them as representatives of the Palestinian people. Ankara countered Western criticism by saying that “the international community should openly convey its expectations to Hamas.”

Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal appeared to be pleased with the support from Turkey. At the time, the Islamization of Turkey’s foreign policy was just beginning to become an issue. But the reception of the Hamas delegation gave a taste of things to come. According to Turkish diplomatic sources, Erdogan again met with Mashaal this past June.

The support for Hamas reached a high point in 2010 when a Turkish organization loaded a ship with aid supplies for Palestinians and attempted to breach an Israeli sea blockade of the Gaza Strip. Israeli commandos raided the ship, killing 10 Turkish activists. A diplomatic row between Turkey and Israel ensued, and the two countries only normalized relations a few weeks ago.

Sympathies were clear

Erdogan’s goodwill toward Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood is also not new. When brotherhood member Mohammed Morsi became Egypt’s first democratically elected president, he had Erdogan’s support. And when the Egyptian military toppled Morsi in 2013 in the wake of mass protests and banned the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan protested and spoke of a coup, accusing Israel of being involved. According to the German Interior Ministry report, Turkey continues to show solidarity by, among other things, sheltering numerous leading members of the brotherhood. Egyptian exiles are also permitted to oppose the new Egyptian government on a Turkish propaganda channel broadcast by satellite.

Less clear is the relationship between Turkey and the so-called “Islamic State” and other radical Islamic jihadist groups. Officially, the Turkish government has labeled IS a terrorist organization. At the same time, reports have repeatedly surfaced during the civil war in Syria that Ankara has bought oil from IS, supplied it with weapons and money, and allowed wounded jihadists to be treated in Turkish hospitals. On the other hand, IS has also claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Turkey.

It is clear that, for the Turkish government, any growth in power of the Kurds in Syria or Iraq along the Turkish border is suspect, because it fears the separatist tendencies of the Kurdish minority in Turkey. Since the West is supporting the Kurds in the fight against IS, and Syrian President Bashar al Assad is also an opponent of Erdogan, it stands to reason that Erdogan has, at least selectively, benefited from “Islamic State.”

Acid test: NATO

None of this is really new. But up until now, it was also not part of the public discourse. Foreign policy specialist for Germany’s Christian Democrats (CDU) Roderich Kiesewetter confirmed this recently in an interview with public broadcaster WDR: “Turkey has been supporting Hamas for 10 years now. We have discussed this matter privately with Turkey very intensively. We have also very clearly voiced our concerns that Turkey is helping to finance IS.” Kenan Engin, a Turkish-Kurdish political scientist from the University of Heidelberg told Nordwest Radio that Turkey is not just passively tolerating IS, but rather, actively supporting the organization.

So, what are the consequences? Kiesewetter sees no cause to end the EU’s refugee deal with Ankara, nor to end the dialogue with Turkey. Berlin is used to negotiating with “much more difficult countries,” such as Saudi Arabia or Iran, he said. However, Turkey does need to understand where the line is. “A visa deal with Turkey is only possible if democratic principles are upheld,” he said. He also called on NATO to address the fact that “a major member country is clearly supporting an enemy that is being fought by NATO states.”

Deputy parliamentary group chairman for the Social Democrats (SPD), Rolf Mützenich, says it’s not so much Turkey’s role that is the problem. “The yardstick will be whether this platform for activity is being used to commit acts of violence,” Mützenich told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper. CDU politician Kiesewetter has also stressed that isolating Turkey will not help improve the situation. “If Turkey were to turn its back on NATO and Europe, then we would have a giant power between Europe and Asia that would be difficult to control.”

Azeri claims of military use of Islamic monuments false: Karabakh

By

213458Azeri Foreign Ministry statement on the alleged military use of monuments of Islamic architecture located on the territory of Nagorno Karabakh does not correspond to reality, Karabakh Foreign Ministry said Monday, May 30.

“Azerbaijan, with its experience of using religious monuments for military purposes – proved by the transformation of the Kazanchetsots church in Shushi into a military warehouse in 1992 – is once again trying to attribute its own practices to Karabakh,” the Ministry said, characterizing the statement as another allegation in a series of Baku’s false accusations.

“A body of compelling evidence suggests systematic and deliberate destruction of Armenian cultural heritage sites by the Azerbaijani authorities on the whole territory of Azerbaijan, as well as in Karabakh’s occupied region of Shahumyan.”

“The most blatant act of vandalism is the destruction of the medieval Armenian khachkar cemetery near the town of Jugha (Julfa) in Nakhichevan and turning the site into a military range in 2005. Despite numerous international appeals, the Azerbaijani side, seeking to avoid responsibility, does not allow international experts to visit the area,” the Ministry added.

According to the Karabakh foreign policy agency, if the Azerbaijani authorities are genuinely interested in the implementation of the fact-finding mission to assess the situation with the historical and cultural monuments, and do not pursue merely political or propaganda-related goals, Karabakh can expect that the work of the mission will start from visiting Shahumyan region and Nakhichevan.

“At the same time, we consider it necessary to note that all the monuments located in the territory of Karabakh, irrespective of their origin, are included in the State Registry of the Historical and Cultural Immobile Monuments and are under state protection,” the Ministry said.

“The Nagorno Karabakh Republic has been and remains open to international cooperation for the protection and preservation of cultural and historical heritage, and expects a similar openness from Azerbaijan.”

Turkey’s parliament speaker Kahraman demands Islamic constitution, no place for secularism

By

0,,19214449_303,00(DW) Ismail Kahraman, head of the parliament in Ankara, has said the country needs an Islamic constitution. He said Turkey was a Muslim nation and there was no place for secularism

“We are a Muslim country. That is why we need a religious constitution,” Kahraman, who belongs to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, said on Tuesday. He was speaking at a conference with academics and authors from Islamic countries in Istanbul.

Lamenting the fact that, unlike in other Middle Eastern countries, the word Allah did not appear in the current version of the Turkish Constitution even once, the AKP politician also pointed out that the country’s current constitution was not secular: There were many religious holidays and lessons for students that the document prescribed for Turkey’s citizens.

“Why should we, as a Muslim country, distance ourselves from religion?” Kahraman asked. He said that the French and Irish Constitutions were the only ones that used the word “secularism” other than Turkey, but that each country interpreted the word as it liked.

The ruling party, AKP, distanced itself from Kahraman’s statements. Mustafa Sentop, the head of the AKP’s constitutional committee in parliament, said the speaker was not speaking “on behalf of any party.”

There were also reports of protests in front of the parliament in Ankara. Turkish reporter network 140 Journos posted this video on Twitter:

Godfather of Islamic State: Davutoglu calls the Islamic world to “liberate” Palestine, Karabakh and Crimea

By

f5710f2a874c4b_5710f2a874c89.thumb“The most important indicator which would show the effectiveness of the OIC is protecting Muslim minorities and liberating occupied lands such as Palestine, Karabakh and Crimea,” said Davutoglu delivering an opening speech at the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) summit in Istanbul on April 14, reports Hurriyet Daily News.

According to the source, Turkish Prime Minister particularly stressed to “liberate all Islamic lands under occupation”.

“We need a common stance for the liberation of all the Islamic lands that are under occupation, especially Palestine,” said Davutoglu.

He also added that common stance should be adopted for occupied territories, where the Islamic identity is under threat of being demolished.

 

Source Panorama.am

Turkistan Islamic Party continues to train children in Syria

By

Photo purportedly showing the TIP training children in weapons in northwestern Syria

Photo purportedly showing the TIP training children in weapons in northwestern Syria

BY CALEB WEISS

Photos released by social media accounts linked to the Turkistan Islamic Party (TIP), a Chinese Uighur jihadist group that is part of al Qaeda’s international network, show the group training children in Syria. The photos are unconfirmed and undated, but the TIP is known to operate training camps for children in northwestern Syria.

The three photos show children, many of which are Uighur, attending a Sharia school ran by the group and participating in weapons training. Last September,  the TIP released a video showing the training of what it called “little jihadists.” The children are shown posing with AK-47 assault rifles, attending Sharia classes, and partaking in weapons training. In July, the group first publicized a training camp in Idlib, which appears to be in the same area. Several of those photos depict the children learning how to operate AK-47s, sub-machine guns, and handguns. (See LWJ report, Uighur jihadist group in Syria advertises ‘little jihadists’.)

The TIP is not the only foreign al Qaeda ally in Syria known to train children. In December, the Imam Bukhari Jamaat (also known as Katibat Imam Bukhari), an Uzbek group in Syria loyal to the Taliban, released an 18-minute video showing the group training dozens of children. The children, who range from under 10 to mid-teens, are seen taking part in physical exercises and lessons on how to handle and fire weapons. (See LWJ report, Uzbek group in Syria trains children for jihad.)

The popular Saudi cleric Abdullah al Muhaysini’s Jihad Callers Center also released a video last September showing native Syrian children training at a camp ran by the group. Muhaysini is closely tied to al Qaeda and the Al Nusrah Front. Additionally, the Chechen-led Junud al Sham, led by US-designated terrorist Muslim Shishani, is known to have ran training camps for children in the past. The Islamic State, which gets most of the media attention on its training of children, has also published several videos from many of its proclaimed provinces showing its “cubs” being trained for jihad.

Caleb Weiss is an intern at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a contributor to The Long War Journal.

Davutoglu Islamic Armey of Turkey, Saudi Arabia to hold joint drills

By

turkey_saudi_arabia.thumbTurkey and Saudi Arabia will hold joint military drills as part of a decision to strategically cooperate against common threats, sources have told daily Hürriyet.
Turkish Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar’s visit to Saudi Arabia in late January, which had coincided with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s official visit to the country, brought about a decision to hold joint military exercises with the participation of the two countries’ armies.
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity said a decision for “the strategic cooperation against common threats” had been made during the meeting in Riyadh.
The visit was not to discuss the coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) facilities in Syria but rather conducted to strengthen mutual ties between the two states and armies, according to the sources.
The “Islam army,” which Saudi Arabia had announced to be formed on Dec. 15, 2015, consisting of 34 Sunni Islam states, to fight terrorism amid a continuing war on jihadists in the Middle East and elsewhere, was not on the agenda of the meetings in Riyadh.
The visit coming right before Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates declaring they were ready to send troops and special forces to Syria under the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition was also a coincidence, the sources said, adding Turkey was distancing itself from both of the issues.
“The togetherness that is being mentioned [by Saudi Arabia] cannot actually be called an ‘Islam army.’ Even if there is such an initiative, Turkey will not be a part of its military branch,” said a senior Turkish official.

SAUDI ARABIA This is an Armenian architect who built the Museum of Islamic faith in Mecca

By

French Armenia architect Michel Mossessian

French Armenia architect Michel Mossessian

This is Mossessian Architecture, designed by the French architect Michel Mossessian of Armenian origin, based in London, which won the competition to design the Makkah Museum, a new building dedicated to the Islamic faith, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The Mecca Museum will be built at a remote site seven kilometers from the Grand Mosque which is the Kaaba, the most sacred place in the Muslim world.

The construction will include a gallery space of 5600 square meters which will host exhibitions on international practice of Islam and the life of Muhammad.

It will also include a reception hall, an auditorium, a library, teaching space, a rooftop garden and a restaurant.

“The Makkah Museum will offer a presentation and a reflection of the faith million Muslims who visit Makkah from around the world, and until now, had no cultural institution in this way to diversify their visit to the holiest of Muslim cities, “reads a declaration issued Mossessian.

Mossessian teamed with Adeline Rispal exhibition architecture studio to engage in competition for the museum project. The duo was declared as the winner this week.

Rispal has designed an empty space at the center structure to represent a “virtual minaret”, where visitors will rise by browsing through the exhibits.

Mossessian Architecture has achieved this by designing a ramp continues to rise in this space t, with a parallel spiral back down, “said the firm.

“Both Circular (as the celestial sphere) and rising (as in a spiritual journey), the central space contained a minaret called the Muslim community to transcend the earthly values ​​through their faith and continuing the quest for recognition infinity “.

Exhibitions and film screenings will be presented on both sides of the ramp during the ascent into space.

At the top, visitors will have access to an air-conditioned garden, designed to be usable even in extreme heat summers of Saudi Arabia.

The lower spiral staircase to descend bear the inscription of the 99 names of Allah, the names of God in Islam, which will be visible from a gallery space on the ground floor.

The outer wall of the museum include a stone after each country of the world where Islam is common practice. The rock Hejaz mountains near Mecca will be used for the interior.

“Inside, the rock is used to create alcoves and baseboards that visitors will cross during their ascent of the ramp,” said the architect. “This is where the presentations will be received, which tell the story of the Prophet’s life and enrich the understanding of Islam.”

Based in Hoxton, east London, Mossessian Architecture was created in 2005 by architect Michel Mossessian. The firm is working on many projects currently in the Middle East and Africa, including the renovation of Place Lalla Yeddouna at the center of the historic Medina of Fez, Morocco.

Among the projects of the company in the UK are the multi-purpose towers London Paddington Basin and offices in King’s Cross.

Mecca is the holiest city of Islam, where the Prophet Muhammad was born. Non-Muslims are banned from the city. The central mosque is home to the annual hajj pilgrimage solid.

Some guardians of the heritage expressed concerns about the development of the city in recent years, due to the indiscriminate destruction of historic buildings, to build shelters for the millions of pilgrims who visit Mecca .

Royal Clock Tower Makkah in Mecca was the height the second tower in the world until the completion this month Gensler tower in Shanghai.

The nearest airport is located in Mecca in Jeddah, the second largest city in the country, including a terminal is reserved for the hajj. The London architecture firm Foster + Partners designs for 8 billion pounds in Jeddah a transport system with metro terminal, ferry, bus and cycles.

Jeddah also plans to host the tallest building in the world, the Kingdom Tower currently under construction expected to reach 1000 meters.

London architect to build Islamic faith museum in Mecca

Translation Gilbert Béguian