“Across Turkey’s mosques, the Diyanet, or the directorate of religious affairs, organized calls to prayer and recitation of the ‘Conquest’ chapter in the Quran, broadcasting it over loudspeakers. Turkish mainstream media, including state-run Anadolu Agency, broadcast Islamic clerics telling followers the northeast Syria operation was ordained by God. The pro-government media outlet shared dozens of posts allegedly showing Muslims from around the world reciting the ‘Conquest’ chapter of the Quran in support of the Turkish military.”
The chapter in question is the 48th chapter of the Qur’an, which says, among other things: “Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are ruthless to unbelievers, merciful to one another.” (48:29)
How is it that Erdogan and the Diyanet seem not to have grasped what is so patently obvious to Western non-Muslim leaders, that the Qur’an teaches peace and tolerance?
More on this story. “How Turkey’s Erdogan Portrayed Syria Offensive as a Pan-Islam Struggle,” by Rikar Hussein, VOA News, November 13, 2019:
WASHINGTON – As Turkey last month announced its military incursion into northeast Syria, Turkish officials said the operation was to “prevent the creation of a terror corridor” along Turkey’s southern border with Syria. Locally, however, their message added a religious zeal to the Muslim nation by depicting the offensive as an Islamic struggle against “infidels.”…
While announcing the operation on October 9, Erdogan tweeted in English that the operation by the Turkish army and its allied Syrian militants was to “neutralize terror threats” against Turkey by the Kurds and to establish a safe zone for the return of Syrian refugees. In his tweets in Turkish and Arabic, however, he described the forces as “the heroes of the Mohammadian Army” — a term dating back to the Ottoman Empire.
Days into the operation, Erdogan in several public speeches framed it in religious terms, claiming it was to protect the dignity of the ummah, or the Muslim world. During a speech at the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) group meeting on October 29, he praised the Turkey-backed Syrian rebels as “jihadists who even intimidate and kill death itself.”…
On October 25, after Friday’s prayer in an Istanbul mosque, Erdogan gave a speech citing the Quran and telling the worshippers that Allah has promised a victory to Muslims and commanded them to be hard on “infidels.”…
Across Turkey’s mosques, the Diyanet, or the directorate of religious affairs, organized calls to prayer and recitation of the “Conquest” chapter in the Quran, broadcasting it over loudspeakers. Turkish mainstream media, including state-run Anadolu Agency, broadcast Islamic clerics telling followers the northeast Syria operation was ordained by God.
The pro-government media outlet shared dozens of posts allegedly showing Muslims from around the world reciting the “Conquest” chapter of the Quran in support of the Turkish military….
During a press conference in Antalya, Turkey, Saturday, Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said their Syria operation thwarted a Western plot to create a “terror state” in northeast Syria by empowering Kurdish forces.
“A group of countries led by Israel wanted to establish a terror state in northern Syria and we foiled their plans,” Cavusoglu said during a joint press conference with Hadi Soleimanpour, an adviser to the Iranian foreign ministry and secretary general of Economic Cooperation Organization.
Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has made similar remarks, slamming the West, which according to him has “sworn to eliminate Islam and its people from these lands.”…