Day: July 24, 2021

Algerian judoka Fethi Nourine withdrew from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to avoid meeting his Israeli opponent.

If Nourine had defeated Sudan’s Mohamed Abdalrasool in the men’s 73kg class on Monday, he would have to face Israeli Tohar Butbul in the round of 32.

“Palestine’s struggle is bigger than my struggle,” he said.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday marked the first anniversary of the reopening of Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.

In a Twitter post, Erdogan said Hagia Sophia “is the symbol of the revival of our civilization.”

“Praise be to our Lord, who showed us these days … I hope that the voices of the call to prayers, salawats (prayers) and Holy Quran will not go missing from the domes of this great shrine until the end of time,” he added.

He also posted a video showing the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque for the first time after an 86-year hiatus.

On July 24, 2020, Friday prayers in the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque marked the first Muslim acts of worship there in 86 years.

In the past, Hagia Sophia served as a church for 916 years and 86 years as a museum, but most of its existence – 1453 to 1934, nearly 500 years – it spent as a mosque, a status it resumed last year.

In 1985, Hagia Sophia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Besides being a mosque, the Hagia Sophia is also among Turkey’s top tourism destinations and remains open for domestic and foreign visitors.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Iraqi Communist Party announced on Saturday that it will boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 10, citing the deepening security and political crisis in the country.

“A decision was reached to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections due to the deepening political and security crisis in Iraq,” Reda al-Zaher, a member of the party’s Central Committee, told a press conference held in the northern Kirkuk province.

Al-Zaher said unnamed forces have conducted “rampant corruption, assassinations, kidnappings and intimidation”, adding that these factors as well as the deteriorating living conditions have denied the country an “appropriate atmosphere for holding free and fair elections.”

The Communist Party currently has two seats in parliament.

In 2018, the party joined the Sairoon coalition led by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which won 54 out of 329 parliamentary seats.

The Communist Party had previously taken part in protests calling for better services, political reform, and combating corruption.

Earlier this month, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission announced that 3,243 candidates from 44 coalitions and 267 parties as well as independent candidates will vie for seats in parliament in the upcoming elections.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected the UN Security Council’s statement as well as “unfounded claims” of several countries on reopening of Maras in Turkish Cyprus.

“We reject the Presidential Statement made by the UN Security Council on the second phase of the Maras initiative, announced by the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), H.E. Mr. Ersin Tatar, on 20 July 2021, as well as the statements from various countries which are based on unfounded claims and inconsistent with the realities on the Island,” the ministry said in a statement.

“These statements are based on Greek-Greek Cypriot black propaganda and groundless claims, such as that Maras is not TRNC territory, that the TRNC will confiscate the properties in Maras and bring settlers there against the property rights,” it added.

Noting that Maras is part of Turkish Cyprus, it underlined that the city “has not been opened to settlement and was declared as a military zone as a good will gesture by the TRNC authorities.”

Turkey assured that all decisions taken by the TRNC authorities “respect the property rights and are in full compliance with international law.”

“Contrary to claims, the relevant UN Security Council resolutions are not violated,” the ministry said.

For its part, the Foreign Ministry of TRNC also slammed the UN Security Council (UNSC) statement, saying the decision to use the public areas and removing the military status of a certain part of the fenced-off area of Maras is “in line with international law but also aims to protect the rights of the property owners.”

“The wording of the statement of the UNSC Presidency on the ‘reopening of the part of the fenced-off area of Varosha’ is misleading,” it said, adding: “The TRNC Council of Ministers has not made a decision for the reopening of the said area removed from military status.”

“It is regrettable for UNSC to make a statement based on the groundless claims by the Greek Cypriot side concerning the ‘resettlement’ of the fenced-off areas of Maras/Varosha,” it also noted.

Partially opened on Oct. 8, 2020, after remaining a “ghost town” for decades in the wake of Turkey’s 1974 Peace Operation on the island in response to a coup aimed at Cyprus’s annexation by Greece, Maras has attracted both people living in the TRNC as well as foreign tourists, with the environment and landscape around the town also boosting its appeal.

The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when a Greek Cypriot coup aimed at Greece’s annexation of the island was followed by violence against the island’s Turks and Ankara’s intervention as a guarantor power.

It has seen an on-and-off peace process in recent years, including a failed 2017 initiative in Switzerland under the auspices of guarantor countries Turkey, Greece, and the UK. The TRNC was founded in 1983.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Turkey’s president on Saturday marked the 98th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, a landmark pact recognizing the modern Turkish state.

“Our heroic nation’s struggle for independence, crowned with victory despite all manner of impossibilities and difficulties, was confirmed in the international arena with the Treaty of Lausanne,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a statement, according to Turkey’s Communications Directorate.

The Treaty of Lausanne, signed by Turkey on one side and Britain, France, Italy, Greece, and their allies on the other in 1923, recognized the modern Turkish state and replaced the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, an unfair pact imposed on the Ottoman Empire after World War I.

“We are determined to enter 2023, when we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of our republic, as a stronger, more independent, and more prosperous country economically, militarily, politically, and diplomatically,” Erdogan added.

“We continue to thwart the treacherous ambitions against our country’s unity and integrity, and the peace, and wellbeing of our nation,” he stressed.

He went on to say the “critical successes” Turkey has achieved in different fields, from Syria to Libya to the Eastern Mediterranean, to the fight against terrorism, are the “clearest indication of our will to protect the rights and interests of our country.”

Turkey will not bow down to “the language of threats, intimidation, and blackmail” of “certain circles” in any of these areas of struggle, and will continue to defend its rights stemming from international law, he added.

Erdogan also commemorated Turkey’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, and other Turkish veterans and martyrs with respect and gratitude.

Source: Anadolu Agency

The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) on Saturday condemned an “unprincipled” recent statement by the UN Security Council on the reopening of the town of Maras in Turkish Cyprus.

“We consider the statement made by the UN Security Council Presidency on July 23, 2021 to be an unprincipled statement meant to salvage the day in the face of the pressures from the Greek Cypriot side and Greece,” said a statement from the TRNC Presidency.

“With the opening of closed Maras, the Turkish Cypriot side fulfills exactly the purpose stipulated by the UN Security Council resolutions and the 2020 UNSC Term Presidency statement,” it added, referring to Resolutions 550 and 789.

Maras was partially reopened to the public on Oct. 8, 2020 after decades as a “ghost town” since 1974.

It was abandoned after the UN Security Council passed Resolution 550 on May 11,1984 which said the town can only be resettled by its original inhabitants.

Located in northern Cyprus, entry into the town was forbidden except for Turkish army personnel stationed in the TRNC.

The statement went on to say that since the Turkish Cypriot side will open Maras exclusively to its former residents in accordance with international law, its transfer to UN administration, envisaged under UN resolutions, was now irrelevant.

The UN Security Council’s statement “ignores previous decisions” it said, condemning it as an attempt to obstruct the return of rights to their claimants in the Maras region.

Speaking earlier in the day, Turkish Cypriot President Ersin Tatar said Maras, “had to be opened to humanity,” after 47 years remaining closed.

In an address at a commemoration ceremony Tatar said there had been expectations for years that a potential agreement on Cyprus would entail the return of Maras, but that there had been no agreement due to the fact that the Greek Cypriot side could not demonstrate its goodwill.

It is necessary to question the UNSC’s decision made upon the urging of the Greek Cypriot administration and Greece, said Tatar, adding: “The essential thing is to prevent unjust treatment.”

Source: Anadolu Agency

Thousands of miles away from Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir or Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), the election fever has taken over Kashmiri diaspora living in the UK as well.

Over 3.2 million voters in AJK are going to elect the 53-member assembly for a five-year term on Sunday.

Supporters of candidates and political parties contesting elections in AJK are equally aggressive in their poll campaigns far away in the UK. The reason is that there is a provision of reserving a seat for the overseas Kashmiris.

After the direct elections to 45 seats, the new assembly will vote for eight reserved seats that include five for women and one each for technocrats, religious scholars, and overseas Kashmiris.

Most Urdu language TV channels and newspapers published in the UK are full of statements and articles about the AJK elections.

Social media is abuzz with comments for and against the participating parties. It is estimated that nearly 100,000 Kashmiris mainly from Mirpur city of AJK are settled in Birmingham 204 kilometers (127 miles) from London.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Sheraz Khan, a UK-based Kashmiri TV anchor said the practice of giving representation to overseas Kashmiris in the assembly was started in 1985.

“It is a useful democratic exercise and it makes the political system credible and empowers the people,” he said.

But he hastened to add that the system needs reforms to make it transparent.

Back at home, there is considerable resentment against these reserved seats.

“These seats have never been filled on merit. By and large, they are distributed by the political parties as a gift to their loyalists or as a bargain to the allies’, no matter the nominees (for these seats) fulfill the criteria or not,” said Tariq Naqash, a Muzaffarabad-based political commentator and senior journalist.

He said that these seats were created by the then government led by Prime Minister Sikandar Hayat of the Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference (JKMC) to increase his strength in the assembly.

“He (Hayat) had formed the government with the help of the then military ruler, Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. He was having difficulties in maintaining the majority in the assembly, so he added these seats to increase his strength,” said Naqash.

Founded in 1931, JKMC is the oldest political party of the undivided Jammu and Kashmir.

Migration from Mirpur

The UK houses the largest Kashmiri diaspora population because many people displaced from the construction of Mangla Dam near Mirpur district on Jhelum River in the 1960s took advantage of then liberal visa regime to earn livelihood in Britain.

The dam was constructed after the World Bank and few world powers brokered a water agreement called Indus Water Treaty between India and Pakistan in 1960.

These displaced people were mainly settled in Birmingham, a major city in England’s West Midlands region.

Despite being UK citizens, they have kept their roots intact and are actively involved in AJK politics, by extending support to a particular political party back home, said Khan.

But Shaukat Iqbal, a Muzaffarabad-based analyst said while these seats were created to ensure representation to overseas Kashmiris to address the problems that they face back at their home, these seats were being used as gifts to preferred people.

“Either the hosts of the political leaders (in the UK) or their nominees get these seats,” he said.

Naqash said a wealthy hotelier from Birmingham, Javed Iqbal, a loyalist of the then Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Shari was nominated on the seat in the 2016 elections.

“These (overseas) big businessmen and personal friends have no interest in local politics. They want the seat to just come here for picnic and to maintain a protocol,” he said.

For other reserved seats as well, Naqash said, little-known personalities are nominated.

He cited the case of the wife of a politician from northeastern Punjab province, who was nominated on a seat reserved for women by the then ruling party to reciprocate her husband’s support to the ruling party in 2011.

Similar criteria are adopted for seats meant for technocrats and religious scholars as well, where instead of merit personal connections and family background matter.

“Genuine political activists, especially on women seats, are often ignored,” he said.

Contrary to Pakistan, where candidates for the reserved seats are announced ahead of the elections, they are decided after the elections AJK.

Shaukat Iqbal, another Muzaffarabad-based analyst said the reserved seats are used to build ties with allies in case of a hung assembly.

Source: Anadolu Agency

Since the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen in 1789, France describes itself to be the epitome of justice and desires to share its understanding of human rights with the rest of the world.

However, France has taken one step closer towards tyranny and persecution. After being announced in October 2020 by French President Emmanuel Macron and months of discussions, the Anti-Separatism Bill has finally been adopted by the Parliament.

What changes is it bringing, and how is it going to affect French Muslims?

Here are the most fundamental reforms introduced by the Law. It will expand government powers to dissolve an organization, a framework which is already loose and enabled the dissolutions of two major Muslim NGO in 2020. In addition, cultural associations will be submitted to tighter fiscal and administrative control.

Organizations seeking public funds will have to sign a “Republican Contract” and abide by its conditions, which is nothing short of a philosophical submission to the State’s ideology.

The very French version of secularism (laicité) – which already requires political, philosophical and religious neutrality for any civil servant – is strengthened by extending this legal condition to non-civil servants associated with public or private bodies involved in a public service mission.

To reinforce it even more, the law targets Islamic private education by introducing new executive tools facilitating the suspension or closure of Islamic private schools.

It also severely restricts home-schooling. This new framework de facto forces Muslim parents to send their children through the public secular education system where overt religious signs such as headscarf are forbidden. The government viciously tries to weaken the actual transmission of Islam for the benefit of French secular philosophy.

Obviously, to avoid the accusation of Islamophobia, the bill does not mention by name Islam or Muslims, but Macron stated when he announced the reform, “what we need to tackle is Islamist Separatism”, indicating that the bill specifically aims at the Muslim community.

If referred to the Constitutional Council, some dispositions of the bill, especially the one regarding home-schooling, could be struck down, but the overall backbone of the bill will not be affected.

It would be a major mistake to believe that such a piece of legislation will have no concrete consequences, disconnected from a wider plan to submit France’s Muslim population to a second class status.

Mechanics of persecution

When introducing the bill, the Council of Ministers explained that it “is a structuring element of the government’s strategy to combat separatism and attacks on citizenship”, implicitly pointing at an already existing strategy. As no French Muslims ever demanded to live in a separate State within the French national territory, it is necessary to identify the institutional mechanics of this “strategy” and its political objective.

In 2019, former Home Secretary Christophe Castaner, in an address to the Prefects, unveiled that the State had been piloting a policy aimed at stopping “Islamism”, and “communitarian withdrawal” since 2018.

By “Islamism’ , “Radical Islam”’ or “Islamist Separatism” the government means normative Islamic beliefs in and so far as, according to the French State, wearing hijab, a beard, praying or increasing one’s religiosity during the month of Ramadan is a “weak signal” of “radicalization”.

What is then “communitarian withdrawal” ? To understand this expression, it must be mentioned that France does not recognize the political and legal existence of minorities on its soil.

This stance reflects the very French idea, inherited from Jacobinism, that the nation is and must be one under the banner of the Republic. This unity must not be understood as a form of national solidarity but rather as an identitarian idea according to which equal is synonymous with identical.

Hence, “communitarian withdrawal” describes behaviors, be they cultural or religious, of a minority group of individuals, united by a specific identity, that differ from the actual norm of the majority.

The first two years of the policy were implemented in 15 unknown areas in total secrecy. As announced by the former home secretary, it resulted in 1,030 controls of public establishments (mosques, schools, cultural or sporting establishments, or public houses) believed to be run by “Islamists” and followed an explicit modus operandi.

“As soon as there are doubts about a place or an association, I ask you not to hesitate to carry out inspections and controls. And if breaches are established, I ask you to order administrative closures without hesitation,” Castaner said.

These “inspections and controls” are conducted by administrative controllers who scrutinize every piece of legislation applicable to the public establishments which means the authorities can use doubts about hygiene, the control of regulations concerning sports activities, rules concerning the reception of minors or the fight against fraud to inspect places open to the public.

Castaner described this method as “systematic obstruction.” It represents a strategy of maximum pressure on Muslim civil society to make day to day work intolerably difficult, asphyxiating a community already weakened by decades of systemic bigotry.

In the same address, the former home secretary announced that the policy was now to be implemented across the country.

In order to facilitate such an implementation, the French State created 101 “departmental cells fighting against Islamism and communitarian withdrawal”. According to the State, these cells are “a multidisciplinary team, placed under the authority of the departmental prefect, that aims to coordinate the action of all actors likely to contribute to the fight against Islamism and community withdrawal.”

Their task ? To function as a specific anti-Muslim intelligence, gather relevant information and submit it to the Prefect who will process it and demand an inspection to be carried out in case of “doubt”.

As of May 2021, it led to the closure of at least 37 mosques, 4 schools and 210 public houses run by French Muslims. In addition, some 559 Muslim-owned businesses or organizations have been closed down, and 22,222 were investigated. It also allowed the state to seize more than €43 million ($50.6 million) from an already impoverished Muslim community.

It means that, on average, 27 controls take place each business day, 569 a month, four closures are announced each month and €10 million ($11.8 million) seized each year.

The French Prime Minister Jean Castex issued a public circular on the 24th of June, explicitly identifying the higher aim of the Anti-Separatism Bill: “This obstruction policy will soon be strengthened by the dispositions of the bill to Reinforce Respect for Republican Principles (Anti-Separatism Bill).”

Through this legislation, the French government only expands its already large legal and executive powers to amplify and facilitate its anti-Islam policy.

The newly introduced framework is very clear: the French State is at war with its Muslim community, which will now have to submit to extraordinary and extreme demands of allegiance.

As the infamous Imam’s charter states, French Muslims are “bound by a pact” to France which demands a full submission to its ideology. Faith-inspired dissent is not to be tolerated. The results of this “systematic obstruction”, shocking, only point at the reality of a systematic attack on Muslims.

A very real State-led Islamophobic persecution is taking place in front of our eyes.

* Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of the Anadolu Agency.

1 – https://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/lutte-contre-les-separatismes-le-verbatim-integral-du-discours-d-emmanuel-macron-20201002

2 – See Christophe Castaner hearing at the Law Commission, 8th october 2019.

http://videos.assemblee-nationale.fr/vod.php?media=8204226_5d9ca9d57c415&name=%22Commission+des+lois+%3A+M.+Christophe+Castaner%2C+ministre+de+l’Intérieur%22+du+8+octobre+2019

3 – For more details, see the works of Aissam Ait Yahya, De l’idéologie islamique française, or Alain de Benoist’s “Jacobinisme ou Fédéralisme”.

4 – https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Archives/Archives-ministres-de-l-Interieur/Archives-Christophe-Castaner/Interventions/Discours-d-ouverture-de-M.-Christophe-Castaner-lors-du-seminaire-des-prefets-consacre-a-la-lutte-contre-l-islamisme-et-le-repli-communautaire

5 – Ibid.

6 – https://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/dyn/15/comptes-rendus/cion_lois/l15cion_lois1920045_compte-rendu

7 – https://www.cipdr.gouv.fr/islamisme-et-separatisme-clir/

8 – See the monthly press releases by the Home Secretary regarding its struggle against “radical Islam”, available here : https://www.interieur.gouv.fr

9 – Official wording of the Anti-Separatism Bill. See https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/download/file/pdf/cir_45206/CIRC

Source: Anadolu Agency

A 41-year old Iranian male nurse, who honed his skills to shoot with an air pistol in a hospital basement, earned Iran its first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday.

Javad Foroughi, the first-time Olympian, set a new Olympic record of 244.8 points in men’s 10m air pistol event, clinching the first shooting gold for Iran in Olympic history.

The oldest member of the Iranian contingent at the Tokyo Olympics, Foroughi held his nerve to romp home victorious in the thrilling final, with Serbia’s Damir Mikec claiming silver, and China’s Pang Wei winning bronze.

Soon after firing the winning shot at the Asaka Shooting Range, Foroughi took out a small prayer mat and went into prostration, an answer to years of his prayers.

Notably, Foroughi has had no formal training in professional shooting, and developed an interest in the sport only in past few years. He also suffers from a mitral valve disease that can potentially lead to heart failure.

At a post-match press conference, Foroughi said he always dreamt of the Olympic gold, and even put the medal as his profile picture and knew “how much it weighs”.

A medical practitioner at Tehran’s Baqiyatullah Hospital, he also spoke of myriad challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought for him, forcing him to practice at home for months.

Pertinently, in the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, the 41-year old shooter had won the gold medal in ISSF World Cup in Croatia.

National hero

Foroughi’s win has brought a big cheer to people in Iran who have been grappling with a fifth wave of COVID-19 pandemic. Soon after the news broke out, fans took to social media to celebrate the historic win.

Author and translator Sadegh Al Hosseini termed it a “miracle”, which he said has “shaken the dust of sorrow from the face of people (in Iran)”.

Journalist Mohammad Padash described him as a “national hero” and “defender of the health”, the title used for frontline healthcare workers in Iran.

Former minister Sayed Mohammad Hosseini hailed him as the “country’s hero” who with his record-breaking effort “made hearts of the people happy”.

Parliament Speaker Baqar Ghalibaf also congratulated Foroughi, terming his feat as “gratifying and joyful”.

Source: Anadolu Agency