Turkey’s radical Islamic ruler Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and members of his party are continuously aligning with the members of Jamaat-e-Islami as well as Jamaat-backed individuals, who are involved into numerous forms of anti-Bangladesh activities.
According to credible sources, Osman Nuri Kabaktepe, an influential political operative who was recently elected chairman of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)’s provincial organization in Istanbul is one of many supporters of Jamaat-e-Islami, who are continuously working in empowering Jamaat’s or pro-Jamaat activities against the ruling party in Bangladesh.
Nordic Monitor report said: Osman Nuri Kabaktepe was monitored by police intelligence over his alleged links to the Muslim Youth Organization (Müslüman Gençlik Örgütü), a group that functioned as a breeding ground for armed jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda.
Documents indicate that police intelligence started monitoring Kabaktepe’s Gmail and Hotmail accounts on August 29, 2011. The wiretap request submitted to the court listed Kabaktepe as a suspect who was linked to the Muslim Youth terror group.
Apparently, the police picked up information to warrant the surveillance of Kabaktepe as part of an investigation to prevent possible terrorist attacks. It filed a motion with the court under the “preventive intelligence gathering” authority, which allows the Security General Directorate (Emniyet) intelligence service to learn about terrorist plots in advance and thwart criminal acts before they occur.
The surveillance record on Kabaktepe was listed in an inspection report that reviewed warrants for both preventive intelligence gathering and prosecutorial criminal investigation, both of which required advance authorization from a judge. The inspection report, dated February 3, 2017, was sent to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office by the intelligence unit.
A separate document, classified as secret and submitted to the Istanbul 23rd High Criminal Court as supporting evidence for a wiretap warrant on October 3, 2012, explained how the Muslim Youth group was considered to be a dangerous organization that was monitored by intelligence.
According to the intelligence file, the group first emerged in 1985-1986 among university students who were protesting the government’s headscarf ban. It was established by a radical figure named Tahir Gul, who studied at Istanbul Technical University between 1985 and 1992. The aim was to set up a religious shariah state and dismantle the secular and democratic structure of the country’s governance.
How Erdoğan is helping Jamaat-e-Islami
Back in 2015, when International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) in Bangladesh awarded several Jamaat leaders for their involvement in war crimes during the war of independence of the country in 1971, Erdoğan Tayyip Erdogan was the first person who had called upon the Bangladesh government not to execute the death penalty. Erdoğan even went further and praised those Jamaat-e-Islami bigwigs. Bangladesh had ignored such outrageous request of Erdoğan. Following execution of death penalty of Jamaat leaders on war crimes, this radical Islamic party had conveyed a message to Erdoğan as well as several Islamist individuals and organizations around the world, requesting help and assistance in “ousting the un-Islamic government in Bangladesh” and “establish Islamic rule”.
Erdoğan had readily accepted Jamaat-e-Islami’s call of establishing sharia rule in Bangladesh, while countries like Pakistan and Qatar, and organizations like ICNA, Muslim Brotherhood etcetera showed extreme enthusiasm in joining hands in Jamaat-e-Islami’s anti-Bangladesh conspiracy.
Several months ago, Mahmudur Rahman, a pro-Jamaat individual and acting editor of a pro-Islamist vernacular newspaper named ‘Amar Desh’ was referred to Recept Tayyipt Erdoğan by Jamaat-e-Islami with the request of extending all possible help. Accordingly, Erdoğan provided a job and house for Mahmudur Rahman. Later, Jamaat, with active participation of Pakistani ISI had convinced Erdoğan in helping Mahmudur Rahman in bringing out a “pro-Islamic” newspaper from Britain. Later, with the financial and logistic support from Erdoğan, Jamaat and Pakistani ISI, Mahmudur Rahman launched a news portal named ‘Amar Desh’ with his trusted aide Waliullah Noman as the key figure in the publication.
Noman, a former reporter of vernacular daily Inqilab went to Britain several years ago. ‘Amar Desh’ though is the mouthpiece of Jamaat-e-Islami and radical Islamic groups, it also enjoys support from Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its fugitive leader Tarique Rahman.
