The Salafis are among us

27.09.2014 Vatan
Translated by: Turgay BAYINDIR /
Orjinal Metin (tr-8/1/2014)

Years ago, an acquaintance who was giving me a tour of Şanlıurfa, on a completely unrelated subject that would be too long to explain here, told me: “You know, our people think with their eyes!” I have had the opportunity to test how accurate this observation is in different times, settings and occasions.

Here is the most recent example: Early in March, I had finished one of my articles where I was analyzing the current condition of the Islamic movement in Turkey as follows: “Following the disappointment and defeat that the Islamic movement is experiencing right now, Turkey could witness a wave of Islamism harsher than ever seen before. Islamism alone is not a problem. However, I am primarily referring to movement called new Salafism. All that we have been experiencing is creating a very favorable setting for the “new Salafi” movement which has already been wreaking havoc in most of the Islamic societies and among the Muslim communities living in the West, which has been worrying the traditional Islamic institutions most, but has not so far taken much root in our country.” 

The reactions this final paragraph received were more numerous and various than I ever expected. Especially conservative readers thought that historically Turkey does not present suitable conditions for the Salafism and that this movement would, under no condition, take root in Turkey. Based on these reactions, I wrote two more articles. The first one was titled “Waiting for the Salafis”. However, I did not manage to convince those who said, “new or old, Salafism would not be successful in our country”. They even said, “Don’t wait for them in vain, they won’t come”. However, when images of the Eid prayer performed by a large congregation of Salafis in Ömerli, Istanbul appeared in the media, these objections naturally stopped. Therefore, I do not think that there will be too many objections to the tile of this article. Without having to wait too long, we all saw that the Salafis are already among us.

The tip of the iceberg

From the first moment, it was claimed that these people had organic ties with ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or more recently IS, the Islamic State) but these claims were denied by the organizers of this prayer. It should be underlined that the denial that was published on a website did not contain any negative comments on the IS or on its caliph al-Baghdadi. These people might have direct connections with the IS, or with al-Qaeda which is currently in conflict with the IS, or with any one of the radical Islamic groups that are fighting in Syria and Iraq. Or they might not have organic ties with any such organization at the moment. Regardless, based on both the images from the Eid prayer and the subjects they engage in and the comments they make on them, we can easily say that new Salafism has already reached a certain level of organization in Turkey. What is more, it should be added that there are different Salafi groups in Istanbul, and outside of Istanbul, interest in the new Salafism movement is on the rise, especially in the heavily Kurdish-populated cities. In short, what we saw in Ömerli showed us only a small part of the whole potential.

Turkey taken hostage

The Ömerli photographs were definitely useful in making the Salafi existence in Turkey visible. However, when we think that these photographs were shared on the Internet by the organizers themselves, it is obvious that they also function as a propaganda tool. It is understood that this propaganda aims to influence those who have been pleased with the news of the capture of Mosul by ISIS and the declaration of “the Islamic State” there together with “the caliphate” but who are ambivalent about doing anything about it.

To cut it short, as long as instability continues in Iraq and Syria, as long as the AKP government does not establish good relationships with those who are fighting against ISIS, al-Qaeda and similar groups (and these are not simply the government forces of Baghdad and Damascus; there are also Kurds who are engaged in a live-or-die war in Rojava/Syria) and therefore, as Turkey continues to preserve its status as a logistical center for foreign Salafis who go to Iraq and Syria for jihad, and of course as long as the Turkish citizens who are being held hostage by IS(IS) are not rescued, it does not seem possible that much can be done against the rising jihadist line of new Salafism.

Destek olmak ister misiniz?
Doğru haber, özgün ve özgür yorum ihtiyacı
Bugün dünyada gazeteciler birer aktivist olmaya zorlanıyor. Bu durum, kutuplaşmanın alabildiğine keskin olduğu Türkiye'de daha fazla karşımıza çıkıyor. Halbuki gazeteci, elinden geldiğince, doğru haber ile özgün ve özgür yorumla toplumun tüm kesimlerine ulaşmaya çalışmalı ve bu yolla, kutuplaşmayı artırma değil azaltmayı kendine hedef edinmeli. Devamı için

Recent articles (10)

21.03.2022	Ruşen Çakır: Laicism out, secularism in
15.03.2021	Turkey’s search for an antithetical foreign policy
03.03.2021	What good can shutting down the People’s Democratic Party do and to whom?
02.02.2021	An example of civil disobedience: Don’t look down people of Boğaziçi University
29.12.2020	Turkey-China relations overshadowed by the Uighur issue
23.12.2020	Erdoğan’s Kurdish issue
24.07.2020	Erdoğan’s greatest strategic mistake
24.06.2020	Turkey-Egypt: The unending fight
27.05.2020	Turkey: Will Erdoğan hold on to his voter base at all costs? Can he retain it?
30.04.2020	Turkey: The search for meaning by children of religious families

10.11.2024		Abdullah Öcalan’a sormak istediğim 20 soru
22.09.2024		Ruşen Çakır nivîsî: Di benda hevdîtina Erdogan û Esed de
17.06.2023		Au pays du RAKI : Entretien avec François GEORGEON
21.03.2022		Ruşen Çakır: Laicism out, secularism in
19.08.2019		Erneute Amtsenthebung: Erdogans große Verzweiflung
05.05.2015		CHP-şi Goşaonuş Sthrateji: Xetselaşi Coxo Phri-Elişina Mualefeti
03.04.2015		Djihadisti I polzuyutsya globalizatsiey I stanovitsya yeyo jertvami. Polnıy test intervyu s jilem kepelem
10.03.2015		Aya Ankara Az Kobani Darse Ebrat Khahad Gereft?
08.03.2015		La esperada operación de Mosul: ¿Combatirá Ankara contra el Estado Islámico (de Irak y el Levante)?
18.07.2014		Ankarayi Miçin arevelki haşvehararı