Islamic State – the evils of religious misinterpretation.

"Jihadi John"- Wanted for Murder!

As the Middle East continues to variously burn as regional disintegration becomes seemingly viral, more and more reports are emerging of wholesale slaughter of men, women and children and in the most horrific manner possible. Most recently, executions of hostages by way of beheading have been beamed around the world courtesy of social media and other such devices, one of the most notable being the murder of journalist James Foley by what appears to be a British born thug, aka ‘Jihadi John’. More on him, and creatures of his ilk later with suggestions too, as to how they might be dealt with once identified and located.

Throughout the ages, religion and the interpretations thereof, has been used as a pretext or permission-giver for the implementation of wholesale mass-slaughter. For example, the Inquisition cut swathes across humanity during its reign of terror during the 12^th Century, its origins being in France. In brief, the Inquisition was an ecclesiastical court and process of the Roman Catholic Church setup for the purpose towards the discovery and punishment of heresy which wielded immense power and brutality in medieval and early modern times.

The Inquisition's function was principally assembled to repress all heretics of rights, depriving them of their estate and assets which became subject to the ownership of the Catholic treasury, with each relentlessly sought to destroy anyone who spoke, or even thought differently to the Catholic Church. 

This system for close to over six centuries, became the legal framework throughout most of Europe that orchestrated one of the most confounding religious orders in the course of mankind. For example, Pope Innocent III declared thus: “Anyone who attempts to construe a personal view of God, which conflicts with church dogma, must be burned without pity”

During the 16^th Century in England, men and women – doubtless children too – would lose their lives as Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monastries Act was ruthlessly carried out as he forcibly introduced Anglicanism in the light of his 'spat' with the Pope over his divorce with Queen Catherine, his first wife. Interpretations of scripture have been used with deliberate manipulation in order to justify the actions of the few against the many. Today’s unfolding events are every bit similar, for Islamic State does not represent true Muslims by any imaginative stretch of one’s thinking.

A Muslim friend and neighbour of this columnist guided the writer towards key sources of research material on this topic, some of which is shared below:

In his book, Minhaaj as-Sunnah, Shaykhul-islaam Ibn Taymiyyah explains that “there are none more harmful to the Muslims than the khawaarj, neither the Jews nor the Christians, for they strive to kill every Muslim who did not agree with their war, declaring the blood of Muslims, their wealth and the slaying of their children to be lawful, whilst declaring them to be disbelievers. And they considered this to be worship due to their ignorance and their innovation which caused them to go astray”

This was written some 750 years ago by Taqî ad-Dîn Aḥmad ibn Taymiyyah, who was born in Harran in 1263. He lived to become an early Islamic scholar and Philosopher. He died in Damascus in 1328.

Even more tellingly, during the First Century of Islam, one of the pious originals, Imam Az Zuhree who died in 124 AH –al Hijra, wrote thus:

“Never was a severed head of an enemy brought the Messenger of Allah ever (may the peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) not even on the day of the battle of Badr.

When a severed head was brought to the first Caplih Abu Bakr (may Allaah be pleased with him) he forbade it. Once, when a severed head was brought unto Abu Bakr, so he ascended to the pulpit and said ‘We are not in need of this conduct; this is the way of non-Muslims and non-Arab’s’.

Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri is regarded as one of the greatest Sunni authorities on Hadith.

Several hundred British born men and apparently women, have made their way via Turkey to Syria and Iraq to wage their misguided war of terror upon mankind and many will wish to visit their evil ways upon the people of Great Britain, the land whence they derived their birth and infant nurture. 

It is strongly to be hoped that our Intelligence Services and agents thereof, are busily identifying these Godless creatures and that in turn, they will duly and perfunctorily neutralise them, for they and their kind should have no home nor sanctuary here, or anywhere else for that matter. 

By

Chris Green 

Beşparmak Media Services

Blair’s Middle East Folly – the legacy explodes!

Middle-East 'Peace Envoy', Tony Blair - the very antithesis of Peace.

In a small, picturesque town square, is gathered a sizeable group of men, elderly women and boys, some as young as just ten years of age. Above the town hall flutters a large, menacing black flag, the symbol of the Islamic State terror group and the murder squads who front them. The younger women and girls of this predominantly Christian community have all been spirited away; presumably, their fate is one of slavery and servitude. They are ‘marketable’, of course. The group of men and boys huddle together, fear seared across their very features and with very good reason, for unless they convert to the branch of Islam apparently practiced by IS they will be executed. After a hiatus period of several hours, they are slaughtered, their bodies piled high.

 

IS murder squads in action

The above scenario is not, however in Northern Iraq or Syria it is in the quintessentially English setting of Ambridge, the name of the fictitious town made famous by the long running radio series, The Archers. Yes, the above image is equally fictitious and deliberately so, but it is perhaps this kind of situation that Prime Minister Cameron is alluding to when he penned his eerily ‘Blair-like’ predictions, in an article in the Sunday Telegraph and in which he sets out his views as to the risk posed to Great Britain by Islamic State (IS) an organisation accurately described by MP George Galloway as a ‘Serpent of Hate’.

The Prime Minister could be right in some respects, for there are a great many radicalised British-born young men who have gone to wage terror and murder for the murder squadrons of IS. It could well be that those who return to these shores, will themselves establish such units and subjugate our towns and villages to the inhumane treatment being meted out to Yazidi’s and others in Northern Iraq, where the above scenario is almost a daily event.

Finishing the 'job' - IS savages at work

This is where British Intelligence and their military support networks have to do their work thoroughly, by way of identifying those who have departed these shores to perform their terrorist calling and it then behoves to the authorities to deny these people the right to return here. In fine, their nationality should be stripped from them forthwith and they are either incarcerated or better still, expelled.

We would not of course, be having this debate were it not for Blair’s Folly, that of invading Iraq in 2003 with his counter-part in international crime, George Dubya Bush. Since that wholly avoidable and unnecessary intervention on the pretext of Iraq holding WMD’s (they didn’t – and David Kelly was killed for saying so) the whole region has become immersed in sectarianism and is now ablaze as is Syria where in excess of 250,000 people have been slaughtered and millions more displaced, perhaps for ever. Turkey is awash with refugees –to the credit of the Turkish people – and now the Yazidi’s are arriving in South-West Turkey too. There is growing evidence however, that considerable enmity is growing as the numbers of refugees swell. There is a limit to even Turkish hospitality. Recently, groups of Syrian refugees and Turkish residents exchanged Molotov cocktails in Istanbul, or so it was reported. 

RAF Tornado GR1's

Today, we are hearing that Britain is being braced for an extended period of operational involvement in Iraq and not all of this will be humanitarian. RAF Tornado GR1 jets have been deployed to RAF Akrotiri in south Cyprus from where they are flying recon: sorties as well for intelligence gathering purposes. This is of course a euphemism for target acquisition for future air-strikes. We are being told that there will be no British ‘boots in the sand’ but nevertheless, we are intervening again in the bitter soup that we helped to stir up during Blair’s Folly in 2003.

The Middle-East burns and not only because of the baking summer sunshine; it burns because of the activities of the many and various warring factions who are active across the entire region and seemingly the only thing they have in common is the American weaponry that they employ, for certainly IS are not only well armed, trained and organised they are exclusively US armed and led by someone who is apparently of the Jewish faith. Of course, the overall ambition here (casus beli supra omnes) is for the control of fossil fuel energy that derives in the region, but the current and escalating conflict can be directly linked to 2003 and for which both Blair and Bush will long be so condemned, for on their hands is the blood of millions. History is rarely wrong, after all!

By

Chris Green

Beşparmak Media Services

 

Peace & Freedom Day –A Tribute to the Guarantor Power, 40 years on.

Atilla 1 Peace Operation begins.

The 40th Peace and Freedom Day celebrations are a just recognition of the monumental events of that day in history that was to set in train such events that would reverberate through the fabric of the island to this very day and doubtless beyond. Writers and historians whose minds are immeasurably superior to that of this columnist have catalogued the unfolding of the events of July 20^th 1974 in many forms over the years, but to the visitor to Northern Cyprus a more concise account of this day is unlikely to be found in any other book than “30 Hot Days” by the eminent, late Turkish journalist, Mehmet Ali Birand: This publication can be found in most good book shops in Northern Cyprus.

Turkish White Stars air display team

 

On the 20^th July above the Old Harbour of Kyrenia (Girne) the skies will fill with a flight of Northop F5 aircraft that comprise the Turkish White Stars Air Display team and who are themselves this year celebrating their 20^th anniversary. Soaring over the Beşparmak  Mountain range and high above the skies, they will weave their aerial tapestry of exquisite skill and derring-do and will thrill the myriad crowds that will gather in the harbour, on hotel roofs and indeed any vantage point that can afford the best view of this bi-annual air display, the 2^nd of which celebrates the birthday of the declaration of the Republic.

Turkish White Stars

Whilst accounts of the macro events of those times are well catalogued the micro events – those that affected ordinary Turkish Cypriot men and women are less well recorded. Their voices are seldom heard and a great many of them are no longer here to raise them anyway. Too many of these voices scream from premature and unmarked graves and it behoves upon those of us that are left to speak for them, where we can so do. Some would question (and many do) why those of us who were not directly concerned, touched or otherwise, by the conflict of the time, should devote so much time to the cause of Turkish Cypriots and with so much passion. 

TRNC Flag from 1983 onwards.

Having spent time on the island since 2002 and also having lived amongst Turkish and Turkish Cypriot people, this writer has acquired such necessary passion requisite to the task of seeking justice for these people particularly having had the honour of meeting at first hand, a number of the survivors of those times and many of their thoughts and words have been recorded by hand. Of course, this makes uncomfortable reading for the Greeks and their apologists. 

Turkish Intervention Forces-July 1974

 The Turkish Military Intervention began at 0430 (local) and with great excitement one family, who to this day remain to be residents of the village of Ozanköy, climbed onto the roof of a restaurant to witness the unfolding historical spectacle before them and the advent of a two-stage operation that would cost the lives of 1317 sons of Turkey the remains of whom today lie in the soft red soils of Turkish Cyprus in most reverently tended resting places. In the interests of balance, in excess of 1500 Greek National Guardsmen and Greek Cypriots were to meet the same fate.

Mr Denktaş (pictured above) had broadcast on BRT radio to urge calm ahead of what was about to take place whilst also issuing a general warning that incoming (Turkish) aircraft should not be engaged as to do so would mark out the area concerned for retaliatory action. A retired British officer, one General Toyeman, a resident of Ozanköy (then known as Kazavane) entreated the ‘Anne’ (mother) of the family alluded to here “not to worry; the Greeks are running away”. In response she said to him that she had plenty of supplies and that he would not go short. In fact, at this stage the Greeks were far from running away for they were very well dug in and whilst taken by surprise (they were pounding the Gunyele enclave at the time) they nevertheless inflicted some 500 fatal casualties  to the incoming Turkish Paratroopers and Amphibian forces in the first 48 hours in and around St Helarion. 

Salvation in the form of the Turkish Intervention

 On July 23rd, the Turkish forces (TSK) had entered Ozanköy en route to Bellapais. The soldiers were warmly welcomed by this and many other families who freely handed out cigarettes and food in gratitude to their saviours. At one point, five Greek military vehicles sped into the village; these were quickly ‘disabled’ and the surviving occupants were incarcerated within the welcoming walls of Kyrenia castle over which the White Stars will ‘dance’ today. 

Turkish Military War Graves

 

The ‘Anne’ (Mother) of Ozanköy mobilised the ladies of the village and she organised the preparation of food supplies to the TSK and these were distributed by the Turkish Cypriot Mücahit (fighters) and gratefully received so they were. Similar acts would be played out throughout the island during the entire 30 day operation and doubtless beyond. As the Turkish forces eventually swept southwards a general feeling of calm and relief fell upon this village and all the other liberated areas as Turkish Cypriots were enabled to emerge from the enclaves into which they had been cast during the previous 10 ½ years of the ‘Dark-Era’.

Turkish Cyprus Peace Mission 1974

 Slowly but surely, certainly after 1975, some people began to return from their enforced exile and today the village of Ozanköy thrives as does Northern Cyprus in general despite the inhumane embargoes that have been imposed largely at the behest of the vanquished Greeks. Many of course have never returned; a great many too never actually left and these are remembered, but remain lost in unmarked mass graves or communal wells as their unholy resting places. 

A depiction of war dead

Far away in Berlin, on July 20^th, Royal Signals Sgt David McCombie was on night shift duty; these shifts were minimally staffed at the time as nothing ‘out of the ordinary’ had seemed to be on the cards, but at around 0530 Zulu time, the ‘Comm’s’ traffic suddenly began to come in with ever growing intensity. What was unfolding was the world’s reaction to the Turkish intervention on Cyprus that historic day. A ‘Crashed Out’ order was ‘flashed’ and everyone was at Battle Stations. 

 

Turkish Paratroopers in action - July 1974

In reaction to the Turkish military intervention the Soviet Union then under Breznev, immediately mobilised 19 armoured divisions and were directly threatening Turkey although there was universal caution in case the Russians took the opportunity to surge westwards whilst all the confusion was going on! Huge troop movements were reported too. 

The USA reacted as we might imagine and we know that Henry Kissinger was harassing the Turkish Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit to cease the intervention operation and in fact it was one of these calls that eventually led Ecevit to withdraw the intervention forces behind what we now know as the Green Line but this was a few weeks later, of course. 

It should be remembered that there had been historical enmity between Russia and Turkey dating back the 19^th century (Turkic/Russo Wars 1877/8) whilst the Greece has been variously under communist governments and Makarios, down on Cyprus, certainly was a communist, amongst many other highly dubious things! There was an extremely heightened state of alert for the duration of the crisis: The West Germans were very nervous indeed especially at the Russian troop movements and as mentioned above, the worry was that the Soviets would surge westwards! Russian convoy movements increased and become more regular, adding to the tension. 

Turkish Stars display team.

The F5 Display Team or perhaps the ‘Lone Turk’ a display class F16, that carve out their mysterious art today above the hills of North Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean Sea are no longer weapons delivery platforms but are the visual embodiment of man and machine in the unison of perfect concert. They thrill, they entertain, they enthral but at the same token they evoke memories of those who recall the events that brought the Turkish forces to the island, firstly during August 1964 (Erenköy) and then 1974 as celebrated today. They also fly to warn those who gaze at the 200,000 square metre symbol of Turkish Cypriot freedom carved into the south facing escarpment of the Five Fingers Mountains that their latent ambitions to take back the whole of the island are futile and would be costly to prosecute. 

TRNC Flags carved into the hills

 

But as the display ends and the F5s return to their base on the Turkish Motherland; the red, blue and white smoke clears and the sun sets in the west to close this momentous day: The Brits and other tourists may perhaps return to the bars from whence they came and Turkish Cypriots repair to their day to day lives, it is perhaps right to reflect that just 100 miles away in Syria, mankind is once more in bloody conflict again and that the Eastern Mediterranean is again the focus of mans insatiable capacity for inhumanity to man. The mountains of Cyprus of course, have seen it all before over two millennia or more of bloodshed on this ‘island of tears’.

By

Chris Green

Beşparmak Media Services