Headlines:
- Military says will update strategy document in line with Red Book
- Hours After Morsi Death Sentence, 3 Egyptian Judges Killed
- Asia’s migrant crisis: Thousands of trafficked boat people cast back out to sea by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
Military says will update strategy document in line with Red Book
The General Staff statement came a day after reports cited unnamed military sources as saying that the military has opposed the amendment of its Turkish National Military Strategy (TUMAS) document to include “illegal structures disguised as legal entities” as a security threat, a decision that suggests it refused to join Erdogan’s ferocious campaign what he deems the “parallel structure.”
Erdogan invented the term “parallel structure” after a massive corruption probe implicating people in his inner circle erupted on Dec. 17, 2013. The term refers to alleged followers of the Hizmet movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen in the state bureaucracy, whom Erdogan accused of being behind the corruption probe. The corruption probe itself, according to Erdogan, was a conspiracy by the “parallel structure” and foreign collaborators to unseat him. After the scandal broke out, he vowed to do whatever it takes to eliminate the “parallel structure,” including carrying out a “witch hunt.”
The term “illegal structures disguised as legal entities” surfaced after Erdogan introduced the issue to the National Security Council (MGK) agenda, and appears to be the military’s preferred term. Some commentators have speculated that the choice of the plural form means that the military wants the fight to include all religious groups, while the government insists it is solely focused on the “parallel structure” and denies that it plans to criminalize any religious community.
The reports quoted military sources as saying that the representatives of the General Staff attending an MGK meeting on April 29 refused to brand “illegal structures disguised as legal entities” as a security threat in the Turkish National Military Strategy (TUMAS) document despite Erdogan’s persistent demand to that effect.
The sources said the General Staff opposed the amendment because of the “vagueness” of the threat and because the military has no authority to gather intelligence on civilians.
The term “illegal structures disguised as legal entities” has already been included in another secret security document, the National Security Policy Document, commonly referred to as the Red Book, as a source of a threat in line with Erdogan’s demand. In the past, TUSAM has been traditionally amended in line with amendments made to the Red Book.
The General Staff statement on Friday said TUMAS “will be updated in line with the principles of the National Security Policy Document and within the framework of the duties and responsibilities of the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK],” adding that “comments and analyses” being made regarding the issue are “speculative” and do “not reflect the truth.” [Source: Today’s Zaman]
Turkey’s so called Islamist government added a line to the covert constitution called the Red Book under the pretext of Gulen’s movement. Thanks to this addition it can now arrest every real Islamist opponents like Hizb ut Tahrir.
Hours after Morsi Death Sentence, 3 Egyptian Judges Killed
Three Egyptian judges were killed after news broke that the deposed, democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi would be sentenced to death by the military government.
AFP reports the three judges were killed in El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, on the Sinai Peninsula. Three other judges were also wounded. The attack took place as the judges travelled by car from the city of Ismailiya to El-Arish for a hearing.
The Sinai Peninsula has been the locus of attacks against the Egyptian government since the military overthrew the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi. Police stations and officers regularly come under attack.
Attacks have also been reported in other parts of the country, including the capital of Cairo. The fact that the judges were killed just hours after news of Morsi’s death sentence became public suggests that the situation in Egypt will deteriorate even further.
Reuters reports that an anonymous official in the US State Department said the department was “deeply concerned” about the military government’s plans to execute Morsi.
The death sentence is not final until June 2, after the Grand Mufti has been consulted and the appeal process completed. The government is free to ignore the Mufti’s opinion, and the judiciary is a compliant tool of the military government, making it likely that Morsi’s death sentence will be upheld. [Source: Newseveryday]
The Sisi administration does its best to obstruct any Islamic movements because its fears to fall. Just like the Pharaoh killed each male children in fear of falling. But no precautions could stop the destiny of the tyrants and the rise of justice.
Asia’s Migrant Crisis: Thousands of trafficked boat people cast back out to sea by Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand
A weather-beaten fishing boat crammed with at least 300 Rohingya refugees from Burma was barred from docking in Thailand on Thursday and towed further out to sea, after Thai authorities provided the passengers with emergency supplies. It was the latest brutal episode in what an International Organisation for Migration spokesman in Bangkok called “a game of maritime ping-pong”, as different South-east Asian countries refused permission to land to ship after ship laden with desperate and malnourished refugees.
On Tuesday, the Indonesian navy turned away a boat crowded with thousands of trafficked refugees, sending it on to Malaysia. On Wednesday, the Malaysian authorities rejected two boats carrying at least 800 fugitives between them. Despite the bans, more than 1,600 people from Burma and Bangladesh have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia since Sunday.
The Andaman Sea’s migrant crisis exploded after Thai authorities discovered a mass grave at an abandoned trafficking camp in the far south of the country, close to the Malaysian border, containing the corpses of more than 30 people. Some were in shallow graves while others were covered by blankets in the open. Police reports indicated they were Rohingya from Burma or Bangladesh who had died from disease or starvation while traffickers awaited further payment before smuggling them into Malaysia.
The discovery prompted a crackdown on illegal trafficking camps in southern Thailand.
But in a knock-on effect of the crackdown, other traffickers fearing arrest have abandoned their ships and passengers to their fate. Already some of the migrants have died after spending what they claimed was months at sea. One man on the boat towed away from Thailand on Thursday shouted: “About 10 people died during the journey. We threw their bodies into the water. There are 300 of us. We have been at sea for two months.”
The developing crisis, which has left some 8,000 desperate people wallowing in the Andaman Sea with no port willing to receive them, has brought the international consequences of Burma’s methodical marginalisation of the Muslims of Arakan state who call themselves Rohingya – the Burmese authorities refuse to use the term – to the world’s appalled attention.
Denied both Burmese and Bangladeshi citizenship, forced to live in squalid camps in Arakan state after eruptions of violence between them and their Buddhist neighbours, many Rohingya decide that the risks and horrors involved in being crammed into crude boats are better than staying at home. One Rohingya from Arakan state told The New York Times: “We assumed that danger would come, but there was no other way. We were living in a country that is more dangerous than the sea.” [Source: Independent]
Wa Mutasimah! Where are you the Khalifah of the wounded Muslim world?
مَّسَّتْهُمُ الْبَأْسَاء وَالضَّرَّاء وَزُلْزِلُواْ حَتَّى يَقُولَ الرَّسُولُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَعَهُ مَتَى نَصْرُ اللّهِ أَلا إِنَّ نَصْرَ اللّهِ قَرِيبٌ
“Affliction and adversity befell them, they were shaken as with earthquake, till the messenger (of Allah) and those who believed along with him said: When cometh Allah’s help? Now surely Allah’s help is near.”
(2:214)