THIS SO-CALLED PAIN, ALL OF THIS CRY, Syriac Catholics and Assyrian

November 19, 2014 By administrator

By Zeynep Tozduman Izmir, Turkey

Religion is built on sectarian and ethnic differences in the Iraqi constitution, in fact, prepared the ground for the hearing of the attack is just one of the Middle Eastern countries. According to the statements of US officials would experience the same fate of the country close to 30 in the coming period. In 2006, al-Qaeda in Iraq with the support of ‘Islamic State of Iraq’ ‘Isidor submits that his right arm is cut in the short term US Middle East. Hear the establishment and organization in Iraq is never a coincidence.

Geography is dominated by Islam in the Middle East, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Nigeria, Libya, Egypt, Iran, etc. countries, even in the 21st century with outdated methods; head cutting, chopping into small marriage age of girls (pedophilia), non-Muslim male circumcision, female circumcision of children, rape of women, stoning etc. such inhuman practices are always some reason (goes hand in Islam) is made on behalf of religion.

That is why suffering in this land, seems to be resolved in the short term.

Isidor Sengal and ongoing terror began with the invasion of Mosul and Nineveh Kopana with the hearing in June 2014, After the ethnic cleansing of Assyrians living in the area now also economic and cultural genocide continues full throttle.

Assyrian genocide for the people, not over the 1915’l of course, all the Islamic lands where they live, they always experience the same pain. Yet these people have experienced the genocide by Simel Kurds in Iraq in 1933.

Daughter in law! A few days ago the news we read on social media together, let us remember, ” Kenya’s capital, a woman in Nairobi ‘for mini skirt wearing’ men who was attacked and clothing were exposed to shatter by male violence by men. A mini can not tolerate even the outskirts of radical Islam, Christian, Jewish, has Eziu and the Alevi faith can show see you think how pleasant you think, Musul- Arbil / Syriacs the status of living in Ankawa …

From June 2014 until this day Syriac and Armenian churches and monasteries of culture was razed to the ground against the bombardment. Historical monuments, the main figure of the Virgin Mary, on the grounds that only broken Processing is contrary was poured. Mosul and Nineveh only ethno -dinsel and economic, cultural genocide was done. Large-scale massacre took place on a date together.

In June 2014, the first hit and the first public has unfortunately forgotten Syrians. What free press and media organizations, nor the imperialist West, unable to turn their eyes to a kind of Syrian people. Perhaps these people, his native land of Mesopotamia and the Middle East are being asked to be forgotten forever, who knows? However, according to the historian is the most ancient peoples of Anatolia known.

These days the Syrian press and television organizations, except in the press a few Kurds and the BBC recently, forgotten and insisted not to be ignored by the Syrian people’s suffering, less is not enough to come if the agenda but yeah … http: //www.bbc.co.uk / turkce / news / 2014/11 / 141114_musul_gunluk? sthisfb

We make visible the suffering of the Syrian people unless we first need to question our humanity.

The war, and Nineveh in Mosul past June, it takes full throttle;

Assyrians why no help was always extend the hand he thinks I stand …

People of Turkey for Syrian people, why was no curfew until this day?

Assyrian people, why the weapons and manpower, as in Sengal / why ever not defended? Last year, Syria / Kesab sorrow in my hand Syrians inhabited by Armenians lived in this time of Mosul and Nineveh. Also from the Armenians living in Mosul and Nineveh once again shared the same fate with the Syrians about 200- 300 people.

Approximately 250,000 Syriac Catholics and Assyrian / Chaldean over, when the peoples of Turkey from abroad, why no water was spreading to the heart of this ancient Christian?

They stay quiet for being a Christian people, have reached a blind eye to this day. Why do we play the three monkeys in each massacre and genocide. As such, we provide support as always for some reason. They are impersonating the silence of the lambs is not Islam centuries. Whereas centuries ago Kuthan Martin King, had expressed my feelings on this issue in the best way, ” not the end of everything the words of our enemies, we will remember the silence of our friends. ”

We lay our hearts to others so that we, human beings. If this is a fashion day in the land of humanity, will begin the first steps we have taken to this other.

I look at the campaign contributions that neither I also personally involved with social media in our hearts always seared Sengal and help Kobani’yi screams …

A Syrian friend, author, activist, journalist, human rights defender, the NGO and hdp’l as I ask. Turkey why people in this country to help the Syrian people is not at all organized campaigns? All the answers to these questions, the course will give you rewrite history on.

8 November 2014 IZMIR NGO congress as a delegate, I criticize why we remain insensitive to the suffering of the Syrian people. Sengal and survival of humanity in the face of disaster Kobani’de, does not require us to forget that resists being next to one another. No reason we can not hear the screams of the Syrian people who experience the same disaster. In this sense, my people against the Syrian people so that everyone has the self-criticism and apology.

Syrian people to carry the pain of the most agenda and political structures to help organize campaigns are primarily HDK HDP- DTK- DBP formation and Left-Socialist, I think. Also we have meetings, panel discussions, conferences and meetings in our language, our Musul- Nineveh-Sengal local chambers -The SME neck until she change will remain as long as we always bent against the Syrian people.

Currently Iraq / Erbil and struggling to survive in Ankawa Musul- Syrian people are the first victims of the terror Isidor. 250,000 lives, in winter conditions where it went live as refugees NO-poor, we are in a position to extend our humanity because we have been condemned. Those who stayed in Mosul to forced Islamization, to cover their heads, to take pressure the Islamic Educational, pay jizya tax, women and girls continue to be seen as a godsend by Isidor. Syriac people have been a people most all alone in this process. Without maddi- moral support to diaspora Assyrians of the Assyrian people in Iraq, the expatriate to leave the bar and the public would struggle to survive in winter conditions with 250,000 people facing famine. It would be a shame to all of us. Behold this pain, we all have that cry !!!

BOP is a project of the century to go through life struggling global powers, they pressed the button for 4 years before the so-called Arab Spring. Geographical and geopolitical position as of that day, this is the day of the imperialist powers have turned the Middle East into a bloodbath. Against the war climate, the climate of peace Musul- Nineveh, Ankawa- Şengal- build Kobani’de, solidarity and common struggle of the people, it is possible to resist the global powers. Otherwise, this endless pain, the ancient people of the share will continue to fall. These days indescribable pain, Armenians, Assyrians, Kurds, EZiD, Shiites, Turkmen, short of Sunni Islam Nusayris share has fallen to all faiths and non-public. Who is the honorable resistance in order to avoid Kobani’yi Let’s grow together tomorrow.

1915 Anatolian people living with genocide massacre Kızılbaş living beliefs, as shootings every genocide, took his place in the history of mankind shame page. Courses, General Sayyed Reza as the ” shame, sin, oppression is’ alive all these who. What many of our shame, our shame we have. We confront the 1915 Genocide and legal proceedings as long as we, our belief is that the shame will be greater than this country.

People of the region, as long as imperialism and capitalism that soil removal from yesterday Nusra- El Kaide- El Oso, Isidor new actors these days, Middle east, will shed more blood. It seems that war and massacres will continue to hurt the longer the ancient people.

Zeynep Tozduman

Kurds seize Islamic State arms near besieged town – monitor

November 18, 2014 By administrator

Kurdish fighters captured six buildings used by Islamic State fighters besieging the Syrian town of Kobani on Tuesday, and seized a large amount of the militant group’s weapons and ammunition, a group monitoring the war said, according to Reuters.

Islamic State has been trying to take control of the town, also known as Ayn al-Arab, for more than a month in an assault that has driven tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians over the border into Turkey and drawn strikes by U.S.-led forces.

The hardline Sunni Muslim group, an offshoot of al Qaeda, has captured large areas of Iraq and other parts of Syria and declared an Islamic caliphate.

Kurdish fighters seized six buildings used by Islamic State on the edge of the town and took rocket-propelled grenade launchers, guns and machine gun ammunition, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The clashes killed around 13 Islamic State militants, including two senior fighters, according to the Observatory which tracks the conflict using sources on the ground.

Kurdish forces appear to have made other gains in recent days of fighting. Last week they blocked a road Islamic State was using to resupply their forces, the first major gain against the jihadists after weeks of violence.

“During the last few days we have made big progress in the east and southeast,” said Idris Nassan, an official in Kobani.

Speaking by telephone, he estimated Islamic State controlled less than 20 percent of the town. Last month, officials said Islamic State controlled around 40 percent as it pushed further into the town.

Turks increasingly sympathetic to Islamic State

November 11, 2014 By administrator

By Pinar Tremblay

A Kurdish Alevi soccer player, Deniz Naki, was brutally beaten on Nov. 2 in Ankara by supporters of the Islamic State (IS)for standing in solidarity with Kobani. Three days after his ordeal, Naki told Al-Monitor he left his soccer club in Turkey because he feared for the well-being of friends and teammates.

Naki, who grew up in Germany, is rather outspoken by Turkish standards; he is unapologetic for his Dersim tattoo. Naki’s family is from Dersim, which is a town known for its Alevi Kurdish population. (The 1937-38 massacre in Dersim is still a bitter memory for Alevis and Kurds, where thousands were killed by the army.) Naki told Al-Monitor the attack was not a sporadic incident, as he had been systemically targeted by IS supporters for seven months prior to the attack. When Al-Monitor asked whether he had sought legal protection, Naki chuckled and said, “How much trust could an Alevi Kurd have in the state for protection, given that all the dead kids from Gezi [Park] are Alevis? Did you forget?” Naki is convinced there is extensive support in Turkey for the IS caliphate beyond a few fanatics who are eager to join jihad.

Naki’s painful experiences lead to a crucial question: How would an IS caliphate affect Muslims in Turkey?

Abdurrahman Dilipak, a prominent Islamist columnist for the daily Yeni Akit, suggested on Nov. 2 that a caliphate, Vatican-style, should be established in Turkey. He claimed that this would be in harmony with the secular government of the Republic of Turkey. Dilipak provided a detailed justification saying that since the Ottoman Empire the caliphate had not been abolished but still lives on and should be reinstituted. Social media and secular newspapers carried Dilipak’s arguments to the headlines and a fiery debate started.

On Nov. 3, Ali Bulac, a well-known Islamist writer for Zaman newspaper, without referring to Dilipak’s piece, elaborated on why he thought IS had established the caliphate in such haste. Bulac explained that in accordance with Islamic belief, “Anyone who dies without being associated with a caliph, dies as if in pre-Islamic ages [in ‘jahiliyya’ — days of ignorance].”

Al-Monitor has been reporting on what the caliphate signifies and the regional competition to claim the right to the caliphate, particularly between Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Although Justice and Development Party (AKP) leaders have not declared any intentions about a caliphate, social media has boomed with thoughts on the Prophet Muhammad’s prophecies on the coming of IS.

A bookstore owner who sells Islamic publications in Fatih, Istanbul — who called himself Mehmet Kilinc (which Al-Monitor could not verify as he later said his name did not matter) — told Al-Monitor, “We are observant Muslims here, and we do not believe what was done in 1924 — abolishing the caliphate by the new Republic of Turkey — was acceptable. I became a fan of IS during the first days of Ramadan when the caliphate was declared — now they represent all Muslims on earth and we are all obliged to support [IS]. I speak to you because I want the world to know the twisted image [portrayed] in the Western media. They always claim that men who are drug addicts seeking money and women join IS. This is wrong. My best friend from childhood, who was a ney flute teacher, joined [IS] six months ago. He had a good life here, teaching rich kids and making good money. He preferred jihad. It is about the honor of the caliphate now.”

The caliphate is not a recent issue for some Muslims in Turkey. A global Islamic organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which was established in 1953 and has branches in 50 countries, has been openly calling for a caliphate. In an interview with Al-Monitor, Mahmut Kar, the head of Hizb ut-Tahrir’s media relations in Turkey, explained in detail not only how his organization views IS’ decision to declare a caliphate but also its own struggle for a caliphate.

Kar said, “[Hizb ut-Tahrir] was established in 1960 in Turkey and when we started speaking about the caliphate in 1967 it was the first time the word had been brought back into Turkish public space since 1924. Once the idea of a caliphate was out in the open again, Islamist movements in line with the Muslim Brotherhood started emerging in Turkey.”

It is worth noting that since 1967, Hizb ut-Tahrir’s members in Turkey have been persecuted and the situation has not gotten better to this day.

“What matters for these Islamist Brotherhood movements in Turkey is justice. Thus, they argue that once justice has been established it is irrelevant how they got there. That is why they utilize the rhetoric of democracy. As far as I am concerned, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu’s neo-Ottoman dream is nothing but a dream. For decades, it has been said that the caliphate is integrated in the spiritual essence of the Turkish parliament. So now, could the AKP declare the caliphate with a new decree? That would be absurd because the whole argument about the Turkish parliament embracing the spirituality of the caliphate in its essence is a lie to soothe the Muslims. It is not possible to declare a caliphate through a decree of the Republic of Turkey,” Kar said.

He emphasized that for the “ordinary” Muslim and non-Muslim the association of the caliphate with IS has been detrimental. “As the world is leery of IS violence, the caliphate is now associated with blood,” Kar said. Yet, for those who had been living with the dream of revival of the caliphate, IS could be a promise.

How do other groups in Turkey engage in the discussion of a caliphate? Ali Kenanoglu, head of the Hubyar Sultan Alevi Cultural Association, approached the debate from a more pragmatic position when he told Al-Monitor, “The discussion of a caliphate is new in Turkey. Those who initiated this debate have done it precisely because [President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now the only possible candidate for such a position in their view. It does not seem realistic to establish a proper caliphate through the AKP’s structure in the short term. However, we are aware how all candidates for government positions are scrutinized for their adherence to Islamic strictures. Further Islamization of the state will put more pressure on Alevis, who are seen as unbelievers — kafirs. This could only lead to further instability.”

Kadir Akaras, the chairman of Ehl-i Beyt Scholars Association, echoed Kenanoglu’s concerns about a caliphate in Turkey in the near future. Akaras said, “A caliphate is a political establishment, not just religious. Hence, there will be political reactions to it. Look at what happened with IS once it declared the caliphate. All Arab Muslim states from the Gulf rallied against it.”

“Iran definitely rejects [Abu Bakr al-] Baghdadi’s caliphate. First, because they consider IS as a terrorist organization, which they are actively fighting in Iraq and Syria, and second for ideological reasons. Iran’s self-perception as an Islamic revolutionary state is crucial. I don’t think that they would ever embrace any kind of caliphate,” Safak Bas, an expert on Iran, told Al-Monitor. Bas added that neither Alevis nor Shiites in Turkey would react positively to the possibility of caliphate.

Huseyin Beheshti, a scholar of philosophy and religion, told Al-Monitor, “Sunni groups such as the Salafists now are highly active in Turkey. After the Syria problem, because of the sectarian policies of the AKP, the Turkish Islamist community is becoming more radical and fundamentalist. The caliphate ideology is currently being discussed by many Islamist groups that have no record of discussing it previously.” Beheshti emphasized that the issue of a caliphate is no longer a marginal issue exclusive to members of Hizb ut-Tahrir and argued that the AKP’s pro-Islamist policies helped the formation of a Salafist stronghold in Turkey.

Whether IS has gained more sympathy in Turkey is difficult to determine, but since Ramadan talk of a caliphate has increasingly become a routine daily topic of discussion. So much so that even the latest incidents at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem have been linked to the caliphate, with several tweets connecting these events. One of those tweets is particularly telling because it has the Ottoman sultan’s photo that reads: “The caliphate did not recognize Israel. It is the regime of the devil.”

Pinar Tremblay

Contributor, Turkey Pulse

Pinar Tremblay is a visiting scholar of political science at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She is a columnist for Turkish news outlet T24. Her articles have appeared in Time, New America, Hurriyet Daily News, Todays

US air strike on Islamic State convoy killed leader’s key aide

November 9, 2014 By administrator

US unable to confirm if Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi among casualties, amid warning that Isis leadership would regenerate

A key aide to the leader of Islamic State (Isis) was killed in a US strike on a convoy near the Iraqi city of Mosul that destroyed 10 vehicles carrying a number of the group’s top militants.

Abdul Rahman al-Athaee, also known as Abu Saja, is known to have died in the attack on Friday. A key aide to the Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, he travelled frequently with the group’s top leadership.

Colonel Patrick Ryder, a spokesman at US central command, said on Saturday: “I can confirm that coalition aircraft did conduct a series of air strikes yesterday evening [Friday] in Iraq against what was assessed to be a gathering of Isil [Isis] leaders near Mosul. We cannot confirm if Isil leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was among those present.”

Iraqi officials were also unable to confirm whether Baghdadi was among the 50 casualties. Isis did not immediately issue any statement on the strikes.

The news came as Britain’s chief of the defence staff, General Sir Nick Houghton, warned on Sunday that the Isis leadership would regenerate itself even if Baghdadi had been killed.

In a sign that the UK believed there was a strong chance Baghdadi died in the air strikes, Houghton spoke of “potential death” as he said it would take some days for the US to confirm whether the Isis leader was alive or not.

Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, the general said: “I can’t absolutely confirm that al-Baghdadi has died. Even the Americans themselves are not yet in a position to do that. Probably it will take some days to have absolute confirmation.”

But Houghton warned that Isis would fight back if its leader had been killed. He said: “What I wouldn’t want to do is rush to the sense that the potential death of one of their totemic leaders is going to create some strategic reverse within Isis. They will regenerate leadership … because of the current potential attractiveness of this warped ideology. Unless we get the political dimension of the strategy in place then Isis has the potential to keep regenerating and certainly regenerating its leaders.

“In Iraq what is needed is government of national unity, inclusive government, so that all the ethnic dimensions of Iraq are combined. This is where the [Nouri] al-Maliki government got it horribly wrong.”

He added that it was important Maliki administration had been removed and that the Haider al-Abadi government – “which, in its early days is promising to be inclusive” – had support.

Baghdadi, who was said to keep a low profile even among his own armed supporters, made a rare public appearance at a mosque in Mosul in July in which he declared himself the leader of the new caliphate.

A US-led coalition has been launching air strikes on Isis militants and facilities in Iraq and Syria for months as part of an effort to give Iraqi forces the time and space to mount a more effective offensive.

The Pentagon announced on Friday that 1,500 additional US troops would boost the 1,600 military advisers that were already in Iraq to assist the country’s army.

Barack Obama also plans to request $5.6bn (£3.5bn) from Congress, including $1.6bn to be used to train and arm Iraqi forces.

‘ISIS Sees Turkey as Its Ally’: Former Islamic State Member Reveals Turkish Army Cooperation

November 8, 2014 By administrator

By Barney Guiton

A former member of ISIS has revealed the extent to which the cooperation of the Turkish military and border forces allows the terrorist group, who now control large parts of Iraq and Syria, to travel through Turkish territory to reinforce fighters battling Kurdish forces. Report Newsweek Magazine

A reluctant former communications technician working for Islamic State, going by the pseudonym ‘Sherko Omer’, who managed to escape the group, told Newsweek that he travelled in a convoy of trucks as part of an ISIS unit from their stronghold in Raqqa, across Turkish border, through Turkey and then back across the border to attack Syrian Kurds in the city of Serekaniye in northern Syria in February, in order to bypass their defences.

“ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks,” said Omer of crossing the border into Turkey, “and they reassured us that nothing will happen, especially when that is how they regularly travel from Raqqa and Aleppo to the Kurdish areas further northeast of Syria because it was impossible to travel through Syria as YPG controlled most parts of the Kurdish region.”

Until last month, NATO member Turkey had blocked Kurdish fighters from crossing the border into Syria to aid their Syrian counterparts in defending the border town of Kobane. Speaking to Newsweek, Kurds in Kobane said that people attempting to carry supplies across the border were often shot at.

National Army of Syrian Kurdistan (YPG) spokesman Polat Can went even further, saying that Turkish forces were actively aiding ISIS. “There is more than enough evidence with us now proving that the Turkish army gives ISIS terrorists weapons, ammunitions and allows them to cross the Turkish official border crossings in order for ISIS terrorists to initiate inhumane attacks against the Kurdish people in Rojava [north-eastern Syria].”

Omer explained that during his time with ISIS, Turkey had been seen as an ally against the Kurds. “ISIS saw the Turkish army as its ally especially when it came to attacking the Kurds in Syria. The Kurds were the common enemy for both ISIS and Turkey. Also, ISIS had to be a Turkish ally because only through Turkey they were able to deploy ISIS fighters to northern parts of the Kurdish cities and towns in Syria.”

“ISIS and Turkey cooperate together on the ground on the basis that they have a common enemy to destroy, the Kurds,” he added.

While Newsweek was not able to independently verify Omer’s testimony, anecdotal evidence of Turkish forces turning a blind eye to ISIS activity has been mounting over the past month.

Omer, the son of a successful businessman in Iraqi Kurdistan, initially went to Syria to join the Free Syrian Army’s fight against Bashar al-Assad, but found himself sucked in to ISIS, unable to leave. He was given a job a communication technician, and worked at the ISIS communications bureau in Raqqa.

“I have connected ISIS field captains and commanders from Syria with people in Turkey on innumerable occasions,” said Omer.

“I rarely heard them speak in Arabic, and that was only when they talked to their own recruiters, otherwise, they mostly spoke in Turkish because the people they talked to were Turkish officials of some sorts because ISIS guys used to be very serious when they talked to them.”

Omer was then transferred to a battalion travelling to fight Kurdish forces in Serekaniya, north-eastern Syria, and describes travelling through Turkey in a convoy of trucks, staying at safehouses along the way, before crossing back into Syria at the Ceylanpinar border crossing.

Before crossing the border back into Syria, he says: “My ISIS commander reassured us once again that it was all going to be all right because cooperation had been made with the Turks. He frequently talked on the radio in Turkish.”

“While we tried to cross the Ceylanpinar border post, the Turkish soldiers’ watchtower light spotted us. The commander quickly told us to stay calm, stay in position and not to look at the light. He talked on the radio in Turkish again and we stayed in our positions. Watchtower light then moved about 10 minutes later and the commander ordered us to move because the watchtower light moving away from us was the signal that we could safely cross the border into Serekaniye.”

Once in Serekaniye, Omer says he surrendered to Kurdish forces when they attacked his camp. He was held for several months before his captors were convinced that he had not been a fighter in ISIS and had not taken part in violence.

Read Omer’s full story: ‘It Was Never My Intention to Join ISIS’

Islamic state imposes new rules on education in Syria, Iraq

October 22, 2014 By administrator

By Ali Mamouri

The Islamic State (IS) project goes beyond making a political change for the region’s map. The organization seeks a comprehensive and fundamental change at all levels, whether culturally, socially, economically or politically. It is a major ideological revolution akin to the communist revolutions in Russia and China. report al-monitor

Commonly, such ideological revolutions introduce radical cultural changes in the educational system, as soon as the groups that have launched them take up the reins of political power. Cultural goals are the main priorities of these groups, which view political power merely as a means to achieve these goals.

This has already happened in Russia, China, Iran and other countries that witnessed ideological revolutions and coups. The nature of the cultural changes differs according to the pattern and nature of these revolutions.

The communist revolutions sought to eliminate the bourgeoisie’s power from educational and cultural systems. The Islamic revolution in Iran, on the other hand, aimed at the Islamization of science and knowledge by eliminating scientific and scholarly theories that are not in line with their religious visions, expelling teachers from schools and universities who do not abide by religious disciplines.

With the beginning of the school year in Iraq and Syria, IS started to circulate general regulations to reform the educational system to be implemented in schools and universities.

The new regulations included a wide array of reforms to impose a radical cultural revolution in the educational system, by eliminating or replacing some of the materials in the curricula. This educational revolution stems from the hard-line Salafist ideology of IS, which makes it much worse than the Iranian model at the beginning of the Islamic revolution in Iran.

The regulations were introduced within an official statement issued by IS titled, “A good omen from the prince of the faithful to eradicate ignorance and disseminate Sharia sciences.” The statement was made in the name of “Diwan of Knowledge,” which is the new label of the ministries of education and higher education.

Al-Monitor contacted by phone a number of teachers, professors and workers in education in the city of Mosul in Iraq and the Syrian city of Raqqa to check whether or not the information in the flyer is accurate.

Al-Monitor has learned that the reforms include general and basic issues. Labels such as the Republic of Iraq and the Syrian Republic were both changed to become the Islamic State. All topics related to the values of citizenship, patriotism and the like have been omitted, in addition to chants and anthems that might be in contradiction with the religious views of the caliphate state, according to IS interpretations.

This is not to mention gender segregation, banning male teachers and cadres from teaching in girls’ schools, and taking all educational and administrative measures according to Sharia. This includes interrupting classes during prayer times, compelling students to wear Islamic garb for men and women alike, in line with the Salafist adherence to Sharia.

The regulations also stipulated canceling classes in music and art, the courses of philosophy, sociology and psychology, and banning the teaching of history and religious education on religious minorities. IS views some educational practices to be religiously forbidden, as they include ideas and theories that are contradictory to the Islamic vision, according to the organization’s Salafist interpretation.

Regarding religious education, IS imposed religious curricula that are already being taught in Saudi Arabia without making any major changes to them.

IS made copies of these curricula, which were distributed to schools and for all classes and grades under the title, “The official curriculum for religious education.”

The organization also distributed pamphlets and booklets on various topics related to Islamic ideology, Sharia and Islamic history under the title, “Additional sources to entice students to read and expand their religious knowledge according to the Salafist vision.”

The analogy between IS and Saudi Arabia religious curricula demonstrates that they are almost the same in terms of Salafist theological bases. This is reflected in the statements of a Saudi source quoted by British journalist Patrick Cockburn in the Independent newspaper. “It’s normal: All our life we have lived with IS and its thoughts, its schools and its curriculum,” the source said.

IS preserved the same programs for physics, chemistry, mathematics, English and Arabic languages, but removed some sections such as Darwin’s theory, which is contradictory to the religious theory of creation, according to the organization’s views. New labels and titles have been added to science courses, such as “God’s Laws in Creation.”

Al-Monitor also learned from its sources that teachers and administrative cadres in these areas are greatly concerned. They consider what is happening as a major setback that they cannot confront, as IS has been threatening and terrorizing people while circulating the new regulations that are being imposed by force.

Teachers and school staff have been informed that they are to continue their jobs; otherwise they will face final dismissal and other sanctions that could apply to their families as well.

Moreover, all research works in universities have stopped due to the lack of financial resources, which have been previously provided by the Ministry of Education in Syria and Iraq. IS does not have any interest in supporting such projects.

ISIS targets Mosul goldsmiths to fill its coffers

October 20, 2014 By administrator

A gold souq in northern Iraq. Photo by Seivan Mohammed

By a Rudaw correspondent

MOSUL, Iraq – Islamic State is putting the squeeze on gold merchants in Iraq’s second city, demanding extortionate “taxes” to help fund its four-month-old occupation.

ISIS has already opened two centres for tax collection on the eastern and western sides of the city. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, self-styled caliph of the Islamic State now appears to be eyeing the wealth of the souq.

“We have to pay one third of what we have in money and gold in our shops,” said Haitham [not his real name], a goldsmith in Mosul, barely hiding his anger. “ISIS informed us to visit the tax center, which is based in the building that used to be the Iraq Museum, to declare the value and pay one third as alms.”

His son calmed him as his voice rose; ISIS militants might be within earshot.

“The religion of Islam says that the tax on gold is 2.5 percent, so where did they get this ruling from?” asked the goldsmith. “But I will give them one third of my gold and money to avoid their Sharia Courts, which usually ends in either a whipping or death. I will sell my shop after this, before I lose everything I have,” he lamented.

ISIS does not only target gold shops. Simple street vendors and gas stations have also been ordered to pay “alms”.

Yousef, a street vendor in his twenties, was arranging his goods and getting back to work after he paid what he was told he owed to ISIS. “The street vendors have to pay no less than $2,000 in rent, which all goes to the finance ministry of the Islamic Caliphate,” he said.

“I paid $2100 and got a receipt that just has the stamp of ISIS on it. The receipt does not mention the amount I paid or even carry a signature,” he says “I had to pay it, otherwise I would become unemployed like so many others who are left in Mosul without a job.”

ISIS recently announced gas stations in Mosul must renew their contracts according to new rules, which are aimed at increasing the income into the militants’ coffers.

The new rules tap private money as well as that held in government banks. Saba, a resident of Mosul, said that she had to wait for three months for the banks to reopen. “It was not easy to withdraw all my money from the bank as there are certain rules that ISIS has imposed. A person cannot withdraw an amount exceeding 20 million Iraqi Dinars [$17,200],” said Saba.

Saba showed a paper with the ISIS seal on it, “Before going to the bank, you have to first go to the ISIS court and request to withdraw money from the bank and state the reason why,” she said. “Those who have put their money in the bank to earn interest via saving accounts will lose all their right to claim their money back, because they consider savings accounts as usury,” said Saba.

“The whole process of money withdrawal will take more than one week, and after standing in lines at ISIS courts and banks for days, they will deduct 10 percent from the amount you withdrew as a tax for ISIS,” she said.

To avoid becoming a victim of ISIS by losing your capital in order to finance wars in Iraq and Syria, the merchants are now avoiding banks.

Finances from Mosul have been flowing to ISIS for several years. According to a senior officer in the Iraqi Ministry of Defense, ISIS records show it raised $5 million a month in recent years.

“ISIS collected money from street vendors, merchants, pharmacies, clinics, and employees in recent years. The Iraqi state could not prevent ISIS extortion from the people of Mosul because they were not cooperating with us due to the threats and terror they were exposed to,” said the senior officer.

“Without that large amount of finances, ISIS could not have occupied Mosul, Salahaddin, Anbar or opened another big front in Syria.”

Islamic State training pilots to fly in 3 captured fighter jets: Syria monitor

October 17, 2014 By administrator

Iraqi pilots who have joined Islamic State in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, a group monitoring the war said on Friday, Oct 17 saying it was the first time that the militant group had taken to the air, Reuters reported.

The group has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah Syrian military airport east of Aleppo, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, citing witnesses in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.

“They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” he said.

“People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back.”

It was not clear whether the jets were equipped with weaponry or whether the pilots could fly longer distances in the planes, which witnesses said appeared to be MiG 21 or MiG 23 models captured from the Syrian military.

The countryside east of Aleppo city is one of the main bases of Islamic State in Syria. The group has seized tracts of territory in Syria and neighboring Iraq.

The Islamic state IE dispatch reinforcements to Kobané (NGOs)

October 12, 2014 By administrator

Sunday 12 October 2014 by Ara / armenews

The jihadist organization of the Islamic state (EI) sends many reinforcements Kobané the Kurdish Syrian city that tries to control for almost a month against fierce resistance of the Kurdish forces, according to the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (OSDH).
“They send fighters from the provinces of Aleppo and Raqa”, the main strongholds of EI in northern Syria, told AFP Rami Abdel Rahman, head of OSDH which has a wide (…)

Iraq ‘IS’ militants abduct thousands of Yazidi women and girls

October 6, 2014 By administrator

In attacks on the Yazidi religious minority in northern Iraq, “Islamic State” militants are said to have abducted up to 5,000 women and girls. Five survivors tell DW what they endured in 23 days of captivity. DW report

The five girls sit with their heads bowed, veils pulled down over their faces, fingers clutched firmly together. They come from Kocho, a village in the Sinjar Mountains. Ceylan, the smallest, is 10, while the oldest, Zehra, is 20. For three weeks, they were held by the militants of the terrorist group “Islamic State” (“IS”).

“In early August, the jihadists invaded our village,” says Zehra. “They gave residents a choice: You have two days to become Muslim, otherwise you will be killed. But people did not want to convert to Islam. And so they drove us all into a school, separating the men from the women, into groups. My father was in the last group. We never saw him again.”

Up to 400,000 Yazidis have been expelled from their villages and towns in northern Iraq. Hundreds were killed and – as it has now emerged – about 5,000 women were abducted and sent to Mosul, a figure that has been confirmed by aid organizations and Western diplomats.

The “IS” terrorists conducted a veritable manhunt on the Yazidis, killing men and women and capturing women like Zehra and her four sisters. Those who could escape crossed the mountain desert of Sinjar and made their way to Lalish, in the autonomous Kurdish region.

‘The worst pogrom of all’

Lalish is the center of the Yazidi faith, a secluded valley in the rugged Kurdish mountains. Many displaced people have found refuge here in recent weeks – and a little comfort. They have sheltered in the shade of the old, sacred trees, in the steep alleys of the temple district, in niches and doorways. Campfires and tents are everywhere.

“Where shall we go when winter comes?” asks a woman. “We should go to Germany,” replies her husband. “We can no longer go back to our villages – the ‘Islamic State’ is there now.”

Baba Sheikh, the minority’s religious leader, says that his people have already endured 73 pogroms. “But this is the worst of all.” The old man looks tired and struggles to somehow place the current disaster in the Yazidi story of suffering.

Women abducted in groups

The religious community, with roots that date back to pre-Christian times, has repeatedly been the target of radical Muslim hatred. The Yazidis worship the archangel Tausi Melek as God’s supreme creation; for Islamists, he is considered to be the devil, Satan or Iblis. They view Yazidi theology as being too complex, too rich in myths and hymns, a belief system that contradicts the more straightforward Islam.

“In the first night, we may have slept two hours,” recalls Zehra. “At 4 a.m., they came to take us to Mosul. One asked my younger sister to take off her veil. My mother was angry, and she wanted to know why they were asking this of her daughter. He repeated himself, saying that my sister should remove the veil or she would be killed. My mother began to cry. Then, he beat her and took her away. ”

In the first days of her abduction, Zehra counted how many people were abducted and disappeared on the way to Mosul: 65 elderly women, 165 unmarried girls and 400 men. “We did not know what had become of the men. Once, at night, we heard shots outside, gunfire. I asked one of the ‘IS’ men what it was. He told me it was nothing, just shots fired at an unfamiliar car. Later, they told us that they had killed the men.”

The next morning, the women were taken in groups and transferred to Mosul, the center of the self-declared caliphate of the “Islamic State.” Iraq’s second-largest city was taken over by “IS” militants in June. According to several witnesses, a kind of women’s market has been set up in the city center, a large building where the men can come and browse.

Fearing the stigma

“There was also an office there, where men could look at pictures of the women and ask about prices,” says Suzan Aref, a prominent human rights activist in Iraq. “Christians are more expensive than Yazidis. We know of women who were held for a time by the ‘IS’ and then came back. For the most part, the women were raped immediately after the abduction. They jihadists first share among themselves. When they have had enough, they then sell the women in Mosul and pick up a new group.”

Of the 5,000 abducted women, about 43 have returned. How, in what way and by which route, is unclear. It’s thought that Sunni tribal sheikhs in Mosul and Fallujah had a hand in their release – with cash. This may the only hope for the abducted.

It may be that the five sisters were ransomed in this way; they don’t say. Instead, they think of the future and fear rejection by the traditional Yazidi society, which may stigmatize them as defiled women. And so they sit here, clutching their hands together and looking at the ground.

“Now, I have to replace my parents,” says Zehra. “What is to become of us?”