Terror Disguised in Beards and Cloaks
We are living in an age of images. Every day, people who are subjected to thousands of messages in the streets, on TV and in newspapers, make up their minds not according to the depth or correctness of information, but according to their convictions and/or subconscious thoughts. Today's communication experts and social engineers tailor their messages to the subconscious. Social psychology can be manipulated through referring to the subconscious rather than through an open articulation of truth. Islam is victimized in such a clash of images.
In 1993, journalist and writer Uğur Mumcu died when his car exploded. Mumcu was a prolific writer, touching on diverse topics. He wrote more on politics, the Southeast, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and terrorism than on secularism. When he was assassinated on Jan. 24, 1993, the responsibility of the murder was assumed by a terrorist organization which called itself the Islamic Movement Organization, of which we had never heard before. To reinforce the perception that the murder was committed by radical Islamic groups, there was an assassination attempt on Turkish-Jewish businessman Jak Kamhi using a light anti-tank weapon (LAW) just a few days after Mumcu's murder. The fact that the people who were accused of the attempt had beards was sufficient proof of their being from radical Islamic groups. These bearded people did not fire the LAW; they just left the weapon in the street so that people could see them before they fled. Several days later, they were caught in Van as they tried to go to Iran. There was no consistency in these developments, but the fact that they were bearded and tried to go to Iran was sufficient proof of their being from radical Islamic groups.
The entire setting was nothing but an attempt to convince the general public that Mumcu was assassinated by radical Islamic groups. These two consecutive incidents effectively served as sufficient provocation to trigger a wave of secularism rallies. Years later it was understood that those who killed Mumcu and those who attempted to murder Kamhi had no ties with Islam and that they acted with the dual aim of killing Mumcu to prevent him from disclosing some truths he discovered while at the same time injecting fear into the society.
The plan was simple: They would employ bearded people for assassinations who would then claim responsibility for these murders. These people claimed to be members of organizations using the word "Islamic" in their name. In this way, the price would be paid by Islam. Let us remember the Feb. 28 process once again. Ali Kalkanci and Fadime Şahin were advertised as idealized Muslims using small symbols. The same applied to suicide bombers. These suicide bombers committed terrorist acts under an Islamic guise, but would kill Muslims. Consider the fact that the last 50 suicide bomb attacks have occurred in Muslim countries. Hundreds of Muslims died in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, India and even in Turkey. It was suggested that these attacks were committed in the name of Islam, but almost all of the people who died in these attacks were Muslims.
They try to set barriers to the universal call of Islam with several theatrical image setting plots in Turkey and around the world. The realities of Islam are starkly different from the image that has been created today.
Respected scholar of Islam Fethullah Gülen, in a lecture published a few days ago on www.herkul.org, highlighted a similar threat. Gülen warned of a wave terror, hiding under the guise of long beards and cloaks, warning that Turkey should be cautious of the initiative of weakening Turkey by way of terror organizations posing with an Islamic identity. He pointed out that voids left by Ergenekon and the PKK would be filled by such organizations.
In order for the large-scale weapons and drug trade of Turkey's southeast to continue, this region should not attain stability. In the event of the PKK laying down its arms or being pardoned, there will be a need for another formation which will handle this task. You will recall that as soon as acts of terror perpetrated by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) stopped, PKK attacks flared up. After the PKK's terror acts come to a halt, there may be a need for another formation that will both exhaust Turkey and maintain instability in the region. The new threat may lead to Turkey facing yet another set of problems while damaging the image of Islam.
There is much need for everyone who cares about Turkey to lend an ear to Gülen's warning. We know that on this land the road to democracy is a difficult one.
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