Massive Pro-Hamas, Jihadist Rally in Sakarya; Turkish Islamists To U.S. Vice-President Cheney, On Eve Of His Visit To Turkey: “Hey Murderer! Hey Terrorist! Don’t Come To This Country! Get Out! Get Out of Here!”
The Turkish Islamist websites Velfecr.com and Kudusyolu.com reported on a massive demonstration held March 22, 2008 by the Islamist Anatolia Youth Organization (AGD) of Milli Gorus and with support of other Islamist organizations, thousands of Turks chanted anti-American and anti-Israel slogans, sang jihadist songs, and pledged to follow the path of the shahid Ahmed Yassin of Hamas. The reports and speeches were translated from the Turkish by the Middle East Media Resource Institute (MEMRI).
Demonstrators carried hundreds of Hamas and Hizbullah flags and posters, and pictures of the movements' leaders. Some of the banners read, "Israel Will Be Destroyed," "We Will Settle Accounts with the Murderer Israel," "If Every Muslim Pours Out a Bucket of Water, Israel Drowns," "Our Blood will Drown the Murderers," "The Way of the shahids is Our Way," "Defending Gaza Is Defending Istanbul," "The Satans' Meeting, Annapolis."
During the demonstration, an Israeli flag with "Death to Israel" on it was burned, and hateful speeches against Christian "Crusaders" and Jews, inciting the crowds to jihad, were delivered by Islamist activist Nureddin Sirin and by two Anatolia Youth Organization officials.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan headed the AGD prior to becoming Istanbul's mayor.
Following are excerpts from the speech by Nureddin Sirin. As he was speaking he was frequently interrupted by the crowd loudly chanting of "Allahu Akbar" and "Laileha Illallah," "[…] We are the children of Sultan Abdulhamid, of the Ottomans. […] The vice-president [Dick Cheney], of the White House gang of terror, occupation, murders and massacres, whose hands are in blood, is coming to Turkey [today] to seek Turkey’s cooperation and support against Palestine or Lebanon, against Syria and Iran. He will ask Turkey to be an accomplice in their satanic plans and assaults. So we say to this bloody terrorist, to this murderer, before he sets foot on Turkey’s Islamic land: Hey murderer! Hey terrorist! Do not come to this country! Get out! [crowds boo] Go away from here! We say to the White House of America and to the Tel Aviv gang: Islamic lands are not only Palestine, Iraq or only Afghanistan! All the lands of Islam will become the grave of Crusaders and Zionists; and with the will of Allah, in all Islamic lands the faces of Crusaders, occupiers and Zionists will taste the slaps and the fists of Muslims that will smash them.
"Quds [Jerusalem] is the cause of everyone who says he is a Muslim, of everyone who says 'lailahe ilallah, Muhammedu resul ullah.' We say that [there must be] 'unity of Muslims' against the alliances [and] coalitions of our enemies, against the Crusaders [crowds chant: 'No to EU! Our goal is D-8' (Islamic Union)].
"We are witnessing the plots, the postmodern coups and coup attempts [referring to the Turkish judiciary's move to close down the AKP] of the imperialists [E.U. and U.S.] and Zionists to prevent Islamic unity. We are witnessing the attempts to abort Muslim' efforts to unite the Islamic world. But with Allah’s permission, they will fail in all their plots, traps, and hostile initiatives. With the will of Allah, the Islamic unity that will rise from this land, and in the Middle East and in the entire Islamic world, will be victorious. It will reach its targets. Then, the Muslims will pour river by river, sea by sea, and turn into oceans, become a flood, and spill all over. When the political, cultural, economic and military unity of Islam is realized, none of them [the infidels] will dare raise a hand to the Muslims.[…] It is coming… the day is nearing, when the Zionist cancer virus, this tumor, will be eliminated![…]"
As a reader of MEMRI, you are familiar with our continuing efforts to expand our work to monitor more media outlets in more countries, research more subjects, and translate into more languages.
At this crucial time, as the war on terror continues, with the escalation of conflicts in the Middle East, and with reformists in the region needing help to make their voices heard, we are introducing The MEMRI Blog.
The MEMRI Blog is a new service, provided by The Middle East Media Research Institute, which will operate in conjunction with MEMRI.org, MEMRITV.org, and MEMRIFilms.org.
While MEMRI regularly provides translations from editorials and sermons, as well as expert analysis, The MEMRI Blog will specifically highlight brief NEWS ITEMS from Arabic, Persian, and Turkish language media sources.
