Turkey Goes Against US in Campaign Against ISIS

ANKARA—Turkey will refuse to allow a US-led coalition to attack jihadists in neighboring Iraq and Syria from its air bases, nor will it take part in combat operations against militants, a government official told Agence France-Presse Thursday.

“Turkey will not be involved in any armed operation but will entirely concentrate on humanitarian operations,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

The decision echoes the country’s refusal to allow the US to station 60,000 troops in Turkey in 2003 to invade Iraq from the north, which triggered a crisis between the two allies.

Ankara then also refused Washington permission to use its air bases to attack Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Turkey has come under fire by some critics for encouraging the formation of ISIS because of its support of Islamist opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad, and its deliberately loose control of its borders.

But Ankara vehemently denies its strategy has backfired.

US Secretary of State John Kerry was to hold talks in Saudi Arabia on Thursday to drum up support from 10 key Arab nations and Turkey, after President Barack Obama announced Washington’s new strategy against ISIS jihadists, which will include air strikes in Syria.

After a lightning advance, ISIS militants now control swathes of Iraq and much of northern Syria along the Turkish border.

Turkey now sees itself a victim of ISIS with Islamist militants holding 49 Turks hostage, including diplomats and children, abducted from the Turkish consulate in Mosul in Iraq on June 11.

Ankara is therefore reluctant to take a stronger role in the coalition against ISIS militants in apparent fear of aggravating the hostage situation.

“Our hands and arms are tied because of the hostages,” the official told AFP.

Turkey can open Incirlik Air Base in the south for logistical and humanitarian operations in any US-led operation, according to the official who stressed that the base would not be used for lethal air strikes.

“Turkey will not take part in any combat mission, nor supply weapons,” he said.

Turkey is the only Muslim country in a coalition of 10 countries who agreed to fight ISIS at the NATO summit in Newport.

Kerry is due to stop over in Turkey on Friday according to the official, although the US embassy in Ankara declined to confirm the visit that comes as part of a regional tour.

http://asbarez.com/126858/turkey-goes-against-us-in-campaign-against-isis/

10 Percent of ISIS Fighters Reportedly Turkish

ANKARA—The extremist Islamist group Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS), a splinter group of al-Qaeda which Turkey has supported against the Bashar al-Assad regime during the Syrian civil war, has ironically turned into a threat for Turkey, and now commands a significant percentage of fighters who are Turks, according to the German daily Die Welt, as reported in the Turkish press.

Die Welt reported on Tuesday that it is “completely ironic” that ISIS has become a threat to Turkey now, reminding that Turkey has been accused of directly or indirectly supporting ISIS for some time against the al-Assad regime.

It is estimated that ISIS has about 10,000-15,000 militants in the region. Die Welt claims that 10 percent of them are Turks.

The story written by Die Welt’s Balkan correspondent in Budapest, Boris Kálnoky, reported that most of the non-Arabs in the IS are either Turkish citizens or citizens of European countries who are of Turkish descent.

According to the story, based on information gathered from European intelligence units, since the beginning of the civil strife in Syria about 1,200 militants from Europe crossed into Syria via Turkey to join ISIS, and after fighting there these militants returned to Europe via Turkey. Die Welt suggested that this will inevitably have a negative effect on Turkey’s relations with the European Union.

Die Welt reported that Ankara has information that there are more than 1,000 Turkish citizens who have joined ISIS, an estimated 10 percent of the total number of ISIS militants.

According to the newspaper, European citizens of Turkish origin from Germany, France, Belgium and Austria are also joining ISIS.

Die Welt also suggested that there are some “sleeper cells” in Turkey biding their time to launch attacks inside the country, and the militants in these cells have been trained by ISIS, based on previous reports in the Turkish press.

The report also mentioned the Mosul hostage crisis in which 49 Turkish citizens, including Turkish Consul General Öztürk Yılmaz, other diplomatic staff, special forces members and dependents were taken hostage by ISIS on June 11 of this year.

“Ankara has solved the problem by imposing a gag order on the reporting of the hostage situation. Whoever reports a story about the situation will have to go to court. Therefore, in Turkey there is no such thing as a hostage problem,” reported Die Welt.

http://asbarez.com/125678/10-percent-of-isis-fighters-reportedly-turkish/

In Istanbul mosques Azerbaijani jihadists are trained for war in Syria

Terrorist organization Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has occupied almost all the mosques in Istanbul where citizens of Azerbaijan are being trained for a future war in Syria. As Azerbaijani news portal Haqqin.az reports, this was announced by one of the leaders of Jafari religious movement Hasan Kanaalti.

He mentioned that ISIL has taken control of a number of mosques in the regions of Fatih, Ataşehir, Esenyurt and Bağcılar. Young people from Azerbaijan undergo training in these mosques after which they are sent to war in Syria, reports the source. 
“The authorities do nothing and we are going to ensure the security of our community ourselves. We have called for meetings with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, however we haven’t received any response from him for more than 10 days,” said Kanaalti.
According to him a couple of days ago there was an attack on Muhammadi mosque where the members of Jafari community were holding gatherings; the attack was probably carried out by the members of ISIL.

“We were told that we would not be allowed to pray Azan. One of the regions in which ISIL is based is Fatih. There the Salafis distribute booklets and fuel anti-Shia aggression. They have created an extended network of their missions in Ataşehir where prior to being sent to Syria young jihadists from Azerbaijan are hosted for a couple of days. The government cannot but know about this”, - he said.

As reported by Iranian news agency IRNA, the restraints on political and religious activities in Azerbaijan are one of the main reasons why ISIL considers this country a fertile soil for the recruitment of jihadists. On the world map published by ISIL Azerbaijan has to be a part of the caliphate proclaimed by this organization.

The citizens of Azerbaijan are fighting among various terrorist groupings in Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to the data of Azerbaijani information agency Vesti.az, the total number of the Azerbaijani terrorists in these countries is 300. Meanwhile, according to the information provided by the Azerbaijani mass media only in Syria about 200 Azerbaijani terrorists died within the last three years. Mass media has also many times informed about the liquidation of the commanders among the Azerbaijani terrorists.

http://www.panorama.am/en/politics/2014/07/28/azerbaijan-syria-turkey/

Group of ‘‘ISIL / ISIS’’ has called on Azerbaijani people to join their struggle

“Azerbaijan and Turkey will soon become Islamic states,” stated the grouping of “Islamic state in Iraq and Levant”(ISIS), the “Ghavghaz.ir” reports.

The ISIS terroristic group members have turned to Azerbaijani and Turkish population in the social networks and have called on joining them. Azerbaijan and Turkey are painted black in the maps disseminated by the ISIS.

Recently, a member of IRI Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Mehdi Davatgar has turned to the military activities that have occurred between ISIS armed grouping and the Troops of Iraq and has noted in particular, “ISIS will not get satisfied with Iraq and Syria only. It is aimed at expanding in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Kuwait.”

Yesterday, Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi had declared “jihad” for the sake of Iraq’s integrity.

http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2014/06/24/azerbaijan-turkey/

12 AZERI ISIS FIGHTERS KILLED IN SYRIA LAST WEEK

12 foreign fighters from Azerbaijan were killed in Syria last week, according to Azeri media reports. The men were fighting for the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham (ISIS).

One of those killed, Rufat Ashurli, was from the city of Sumqayit. At least nine men from Sumqayit have been reported killed in Syria, according to local authorities in the city.

The local authorities reported that, “Rufat Ashurli, a graduate of the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy had a younger brother who was killed in Syria a few months ago, Nijat Ashurli, born in 1985, known by the nickname Abu Yahya al-Azeri. There are five brothers, two were killed in Syria. We spoke with the other brothers, they have not fallen under the influence of the Khawarij like Nijat and Rufat, and assure (us) that under no circumstances will they go to Syria to fight.”

There are confusing reports about one of the other men reportedly killed last week, Zahid Nasirov, known as “Rabbani”, whom the Azeri police say died in Syria 9 months ago and had no higher education but spoke Arabic.

Vesti.az reports that another ISIS fighter named Jeykhun Suleiman was killed last week in Raqqa.

According to the report Suleiman was the husband of 14-year old Najaf Kerimov, who was killed on January 10 in Syria. Vesti.az writes that, in the summer of 2013 Najaf’s father traveled to fight in Syria , together with his wife and children (16 years Irada, 14 -year-old Najaf, 10 -year-old Sarah and 5 -year-old Fatima).

According to Azeri police, another man from Sumqayit, named Agil, currently fights with Jabhat al-Nusra.

Another man Nijat Ashurli, who was killed in September, was commander of one of the divisions of the group Jaish al-Muhajireen wal Ansar.

Аt the time, JMA was led by Umar Shishani and had a sizable Azeri jamaat. This post on FiSyria is an address by Abu Yahya al-Azeri. It is likely that the jamaat moved over to ISIS with Umar Shishani.

http://www.chechensinsyria.com/?p=21484

'ANAL JIHAD'

EGYPTIAN CLERIC: MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD AUTHORIZES 'ANAL JIHAD' FOR LONELY TERRORISTS

An Egyptian cleric formerly known as the "preacher of the revolution" during the revolt against President Hosni Mubarak warned Egyptian television viewers this week that Muslim Brotherhood sheiks have issued a fatwa permitting "anal jihad" for terrorists far from their wives, which is exactly what it sounds like.

(http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/07/11/Egyptian-Cleric-Muslim-Brotherhood-Sheiks-Issued-Fatwa-Permitting-Anal-Jihad)

Production Deal Made for ‘East of Byzantium’

Visual Effects Veteran Roger Kupelian (Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Pirates of the Caribbean Saga), Emmy Nominated Producer William Martens, and multiple international award winning producer Seda Melkoni of Journey Pictures, have teamed up to produce epic documentary-narrative miniseries “East of Byzantium: War Gods & Warrior Saints.”

Inspired by the graphic novel created by Roger Kupelian, forensic and historical research will guide the telling of the epic true story of the tug-of-war between religion and politics, and the first domino of the first world religion falling in the Caucuses, between the Roman and Persian Empires, the Birth of Christianity in the region, and the Armenian Kingdom that became the first to adopt the new faith as its official religion.

Privately financed, production has begun in Armenia as of June 7 with production offices stationed at Tumo where students have been given a learning opportunity with the production by filming time lapse scenes, assisting on production sets as well as participating as background actors. The production portion filmed in Armenia has been managed by Armen Kupelian of Fugitive Studios, a resident of Armenia.

Upon completion the mini-series will be presented to the worldwide networks by early fall 2014. Serj Tankian (Grammy winning lead singer of System of a Down) will compose the score.