'Largest Massacre of Christians in Syria' Ignored

Sadad - an ancient site in Syria that is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Sadad - where recently Christian massacres took place with hardly a mention in the western press.
Men and women were tortured and their bodies dumped into the wells. Apparently the jihadis made a video with English subtitles of those killed.

Archbishop Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh, Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama, says,

What happened in Sadad is the most serious and biggest massacre of Christians in Syria in the past two years and a half… 45 innocent civilians were martyred for no reason, and among them several women and children, many thrown into mass graves. Other civilians were threatened and terrorized. 30 were wounded and 10 are still missing. For one week, 1,500 families were held as hostages and human shields. Among them children, the elderly, the young, men and women…. All the houses of Sadad were robbed and property looted. The churches are damaged and desecrated, deprived of old books and precious furniture… What happened in Sadad is the largest massacre of Christians in Syria and the second in the Middle East, after the one in the Church of Our Lady of Salvation in Iraq, in 2010.

Sadad is a small town of 15,000 people, mostly Syriac Orthodox Christians, located 160 km north of Damascus. It has 14 churches and a monastery with four priests.

Apparently, this, and perhaps other violent acts, are not being covered by the west. The atrocities in Syria seem to have no end. Read More

Terror in Islam's Name Fuels Islamophobia: Turkish President Gul

Terror in Islam’s name fuels Islamophobia: Turkish President Gül

ISTANBUL

Islam might be the religion of ‘love, tolerance and reconciliation,’ but terrorism in the name of the faith gives ammunition to Islamophobes, President Abdullah Gül says, calling on the Muslim world to rectify the situation    

Turkish President Abdullah Gül (C) adresses Muslim countries’ represenatatives during yesterday’s COMCEC meeting held in Istanbul. AA photo
           

Turkish President Abdullah Gül has blamed terrorism in the name of Islam for soiling the faith’s image in the world and resulting in the growth of Islamophobia, while calling on Muslim countries to intensify their efforts to fight against prejudices against the religion.

“The deliberate negative propaganda activities and the violence and terrorist activities, which some evil people and circles exploiting our sacred Islamic values for their henious aims, have a big role in the perpetuation of this problem,” Gül said during his inaugural address yesterday at the Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (COMCEC) 29th session in Istanbul.

Islamophobia still remains a critical problem that instigates “groundless biases against Islam and Muslims,” Gül said, adding that all Islamic countries should etch the idea that “there is no room for terrorism in Islam” in everybody’s minds.“We must struggle against every movement that urges those who put Islam, a religion of love, tolerance and reconciliation, side by side with terrorism,” he said during the meeting.

The lack of education, spiritual emptiness, poverty and income inequality are what feed violent, militant movements, and governments should act to rectify these issues with determination, the president said.

Addressing representatives from Muslim nations during the main multilateral economic and commercial cooperation platform of the Islamic world, Gül referred to a study that concluded 21 of 57 member countries were ranked among the least developed countries.
 Read more

Arab Dismay and Russia's Chance during USA Weakness?

U.S.-Arab strains hand Russia chance to regain some Mideast clout

William Maclean and Michael Georgy

DUBAI/CAIRO — Reuters

 

Unfamiliar strains between Washington and its Arab allies have given Russia an opportunity to regain some lost influence in the Middle East, capture arms sales from U.S. competitors and enjoy the unusual spectacle of its old rival looking puny.
No one expects Moscow to challenge the United States as the dominant security guarantor in the Gulf. Nor will Washington cede its place as the main outside player in Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Iran’s nuclear dispute or other regional issues.

But a perception that America is an increasingly reluctant regional policeman, perhaps because it is less concerned about Arab oil shocks thanks to its own growing output, stirs fears among some Arab rulers that it is no longer a reliable ally.

Arabs feel the balance of world power is changing, and perceptions of U.S. weakness as it withdraws from Iraq and Afghanistan mean Gulf Arabs in particular are hedging their bets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s resolute support for the Syrian leadership has won grudging respect, even among Gulf Arabs who strongly disagree with the Kremlin’s policy.

That means that Russia has a chance to restore some of the clout it has lost since the high water mark of Soviet influence in the 1950s and 1960s, when many newly independent Arab states turned to socialism and Moscow for foreign support.
That decline in the Kemlin’s sway accelerated after the end of the Cold War two decades ago, a development President Vladimir Putin is expected to do his utmost to reverse. Read more

Greek anger over Turkish Desire to turn Hagia Sophia into a Mosque - Again

Greece angered over Turkish Deputy PM’s Hagia Sophia remarks

ATHENS

The Greek Foreign Ministry has reacted angrily days after Turkish Deputy PM Bülent Arınç expressed his hope to see Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum be used as a mosque. DAILY NEWS photo, Emrah GÜREL

The Greek Foreign Ministry has reacted angrily over a possible conversion of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Museum into a mosque following statements from Turkish officials.

“The repeated statements from Turkish officials regarding the conversion of Byzantine Christian churches into mosques are an insult to the religious sensibilities of millions of Christians and are actions that are anachronistic and incomprehensible from a state that declares it wants to participate as a full member in the European Union, a fundamental principle of which is respect for religious freedom,” the Greek Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Nov. 18.

“Byzantine Christian churches are an intrinsic element of world cultural and religious heritage, and they should receive the necessary respect and protection,” it said.

The statement came days after Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç expressed his hope to see Hagia Sophia Museum be used as a mosque, while already calling it the “Hagia Sophia Mosque” while speaking to reporters.

“We currently stand next to the Hagia Sophia Mosque […] we are looking at a sad Hagia Sophia, but hopefully we will see it smiling again soon,” Arınç said in a speech during the opening ceremony of a new Carpet Museum, located adjacent to the ancient Hagia Sophia complex.

The status of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, with a number of campaigns to open it for Muslim prayers being initiated, despite suggestions that this would be disrespectful to the building’s past as a church.

November/19/2013

Egypt's Brotherhood is Falling Apart

Patrick Martin reports from Ismailia, Egypt, that the Brotherhood is in a state of collapse.

Read Here
 

IRAN: Conflict between Muslims is World's Greatest Threat

The BBC Quotes Iran's Foreign Minister as saying:

Speaking to the BBC, Mohamed Javad Zarif blamed some Sunni countries for what he called "fear-mongering".

"Some people have fanned the animosity for short-sighted political interests," he said.

Syria, Iraq and Pakistan are among the countries currently grappling with a surge in sectarian violence.

Mr Zarif said conflict between Sunnis and Shias was "the most serious security threat not only to the region but to the world at large".

"I think we need to come to understand that a sectarian divide in the Islamic world is a threat to all of us."

Read More

From Turkey, along the same lines, concern that the Sunni and Shia division is a threat to the region.

"A Sunni-Shiite rift is a worrying trend in the Middle East but recent developments in Turkey’s ties with Iraq and Iran could prevent the threat of a sectarian war, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said yesterday as he visited Baghdad in the latest sign of a thaw in bilateral relations."

Read More

When a State Gets Into the Houses of Its Citizens

When a state gets into the houses of citizens by Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Will Turkey enact a law allowing police to raid houses in which female and male students live together? I do not think so. Turkey cannot create these kinds of laws without changing the very foundations of the Turkish legal system and Turkey's international legal obligations.

Private life is under the protection of the Constitution; Turkey is a party to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and so many others, all of which oblige Turkey to protect its citizens against state interference in private and family life. Therefore, without amending the Constitution and without annulling all the conventions to which Turkey is a party, you cannot introduce the legal provisions Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has spoken about. However, this does not mean that Erdoğan's remarks will have no consequences in the daily lives of Turkish citizens. Some “eager citizens” who wish to protect “moral values” in their buildings against those who maintain “indecent” lives have already taken action. The Radikal daily, for example, reported that in Üsküdar, following Erdoğan's statement, a warning sign was put up in the entrance of the building urging tenants to inform the police about women and men who live together in that building. And we read in this news report how a female university student who lives in that building was terrified when she read this warning. She happens to be the only single person in this building and it was clear that this message was just put there to intimidate her. I am sure we will hear many similar stories soon. The governor of Adana told journalists that “Erdoğan's words are instructions for us.” We can conclude from his statement that some “eager” governors and police officers will all be part of a harassment campaign against university students who live with members of the opposite sex together in the same apartment. Well, I had thought that the government and Prime Minister Erdoğan had drawn lessons from the Gezi protests and would change their direction, would interfere less in people's life, would stop playing the role of the father figure. I was mistaken. Erdoğan cannot put aside his patriarchal role -- his desire to create an “ideal citizen.” He cannot help imposing his moral and religious values on others. More here

From Turkey: "We should all be ashamed over this"

We should all be ashamed over this - an article by Semih Idiz 

 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s hatred for Turkey’s progressive and educated youth took a quantum leap forward after the Gezi protests. He is now taking this hatred a step further by means of calumny designed to sully the reputation of this youth by insinuating that they are involved in sexual deviancy and immorality.

This is the only interpretation one can give to his declarations about young male and female students living together in flats or dorms, as I and most of my friends did during our university days. Erdoğan says no one knows what goes on in these flats and dorms, and therefore it is incumbent on the state to act.

He is even saying he will instruct provincial governors and officials to act on this. Not surprisingly, many students and their parents are now worried about police raids on student lodgings in the name of morality.

Claiming, incredibly, that he is not interfering in lifestyles, Erdoğan argues that he is doing all of this for the sake of concerned parents after authorities received countless complaints. Erdoğan also said they are a conservative party and need to act in this way. Read more

 

What are the Roots of Radical Islam?

The Roots of Radicalism In Political Islam

Fundamentalists are nostalgic for a lost “Golden Age,” although the meaning of this “Golden Age” is not the same for the Sunnis and the Shiites.

By: Ali Mamouri for Al-Monitor Iran Pulse Posted on October 18.

به فارسی   Türkçe okuyun

The contemporary phenomenon of fundamentalism goes back to the same historical root in both Shiite and Sunni Islam. The magnitude and spread of religious violence in the Middle East has prevented a meticulous and scholarly study of fundamentalism in these two branches of Islam and its common roots.

About This Article

Summary : Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists have both sought to return to their own ideal version of history while rejecting modernity. Original Title: The Common Roots of Fundamentalism in Shia and Sunni Islam Author: Ali Mamouri Posted on: October 18 2013 Translated by: Ezgi Akin Categories : Originals Iran   Turkey

 "Political Islam" is the umbrella term for fundamentalism in both of these branches. Looking deeper and more carefully at regional affairs, we can see that conflicts among the different versions of “political Islam” are being presented as religious conflicts. While a large number of Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East do not think of themselves as participants in the current religious conflicts, various political interpretations of Islam have turned the region into a scene of war. The point worth noting is that these different approaches have very similar ideological structures as well as joint historical roots. Understanding this fact can change one’s outlook toward conflicts in the Middle East.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/radicalism-political-islam-roots-sunni-shiite-fundamentalist.html#ixzz2igEeSWRq

Israel's Retired Yadlin Admits "Mavi Marmara" Mistake

Mavi Marmara was a great mistake, Israel’s former spy chief admits

JERUSALEM - Anadolu Agency

Israel formally apologized to Turkey in March over the killings. It also agreed to redress the damages and loss of life and promised to lift an embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip. Hürriyet photo

An Israeli former military intelligence chief admitted that what happened in the Mavi Marmara raid was a big mistake.

Retired Major General Amos Yadlin was the chief of the military intelligence during the deadly raid in 2010 that killed nine Turkish citizens on board. “What happened with Mavi Marmara was a great mistake. Both Israel and Turkey made mistakes and I wish those incidents did not happen,” Yadlin told Anadolu Agency.

Israel formally apologized to Turkey in March over the killings. It also agreed to redress the damages and loss of life and promised to lift an embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip.

When asked if he would act the same if the incident happened today, he said: “With these experiences, those incidents would not happen today.” The retired general is on the list of defendants in the trial in Istanbul’s 7th High Criminal Court.

November/05/2013