Turkish intelligence warned about pro-al-Qaeda group, which Erdogan gov. is now defending

Turkish General Staff intelligence warned about pro-al-Qaeda Tahşiyeciler, which Erdogan gov. is now defending. (TodaysZaman).


Veteran journalist Nazlı Ilıcak disclosed on Friday top secret military intelligence documents that indicate that the General Staff's intelligence bureau has been monitoring Tahşiyeciler, a radical religious group supportive of al-Qaeda's global jihadist ideology, and warned commanders of forces about the group's activities in March 2009.

In a video aired by Habertürk, Doğan says: “If an army [al-Qaeda] shows up in Afghanistan and that army calls on you [to join its ranks], you should join that war [jihad] even if you can only crawl.”

Doğan also called then-Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan a non-Muslim in a sermon recorded on video. “The man at the head of your [Turkish] government is not yours. He is their [infidels'] man. The hoca at your head [head of the Religious Affairs Directorate] is also theirs,” he said, adding, “I am saying, go build arms and shoot [them].”

Both President Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu have recently defended the suspected al-Qaeda leader Doğan, saying that he has been victimized by Gülen, who criticized the Tahşiyeciler group in a speech posted on his website herkul.org on April 6, 2009, warning about a group that pretends to be a religious group.

The Turkish leaders' defense of the group goes against a statement issued by then-İstanbul Governor Muammer Güler, who said in 2010 that Tahşiyeciler is “a radical, religious terrorist organization believed to be affiliated with the al-Qaeda terrorist network.” Hmmmm......High time the U.S. intelligence start looking closer at their 'Sometimes NATO and U.S. Ally' activities. Read the full story here.