RUTHFULLY YOURS

Last month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan slammed French President Emmanuel Macron for his recent offer to mediate between Turkey and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), saying he hopes Paris will not ask Ankara to help when terrorists fleeing Iraq and Syria arrive in France:

“With this attitude, France has no right to complain about any terrorist organization, any terrorist, any terrorist attack. Those who sleep with terrorists, welcome them in their palaces, will understand sooner or later the mistake that they made.”

On April 7, hours after a man ploughed his van into pedestrians in Münster, Germany, Erdogan threatened France again, referring to the incident: :

“France, [you are] being a stooge… providing support to the terrorism, you are hosting terrorists at the Elysée Palace… You are seeing what is happening in Germany, right? The same will happen in France. The West will not able to free itself from terror. The West will sink as it feeds these terrorists.”

The Turkish government’s enabling violence in Syria and Iraq has apparently turned Turkey into a center for ISIS and other Islamist terrorists. Many of the jihadi terrorists who participated in deadly attacks in Manchester, Paris, Brussels, Berlin, Stockholm and St. Petersburg in recent years had connections to Turkey. Some were caught there; others either traveled there to cross into Syria to join ISIS, or had lived there a while. Turkey has been routinely used by Islamists as a route into areas of Syria and Iraq to join ISIS. (See appendix for a list of such terrorists)

In November of 2016, Erdogan targeted Europe again:

“You have never treated humanity honestly. You have never looked at people in the right way. You did not go and take the babies when they hit shores on the Mediterranean… We are the ones feeding 3 million, 3.5 million Syrian refugees in this country. You have not kept your promises. When 50,000 refugees headed to Kapıkule [at the Turkey-Bulgaria border], you shrieked: ‘What will we do if Turkey opens it border gates?’ Look at me! If you go too far, we will open those border gates. Just know this.”

For Europe, the result of ignoring these threats could be deadly.

This is the sad state of affairs of the European Union today: Erdogan continues threatening the continent with terrorists — some born in Europe, and some hiding among the “refugees” whom Europe is trying to help.

Many of the terrorists born in Europe had declared their jihadi intentions before their attacks. Some were arrested and then released; others were not even arrested or deported after Turkey sent them to European countries. In these cases, European officials made huge mistakes that cost the lives of hundreds of innocent people.

The EU’s current immigration system is gravely endangering the lives and liberties of EU citizens as well as the genuine refugees there.

Meanwhile, the rich Arab nations — including Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain — do nothing to help their Muslim brethren. These states are wealthy, as well as geographically and culturally close to the stricken war zones, but they have not offered any financial help or resettlement possibilities, and have not taken in any refugees.

Given the cultural, linguistic and religious background of the refugees, many of them could integrate smoothly with their fellow Muslims in those Arab states.

Dr. Abbas Kadhim wrote on Twitter:

“We know that Iran is pro-Assad, but why hasn’t any ‘kind-hearted’ anti-Assad Arab state (e.g. Saudi) taken any Syrian refugees? Shouldn’t countries that spent billions on arming militants (including terrorists) in the name of ‘liberating’ Syrians take refugees in? The only Syrian refugees that got attention in the Gulf states are the vulnerable underage girls they bought in the name of marriage.”

Professor Phyllis Chesler had another idea:

“Why not bring Christians and Yazidis from the Muslim world here first? Why not bring Muslim dissidents, ex-Muslims, and Muslim homosexuals here second? Finally, why not bring Muslim girls and women who are already in flight from honor-based violence, including from honor killing, here next — before we extend visas, green cards and asylum to Muslim boys and men?”

Immigration is not only about movement of people. It needs to be understood that radical or pious Muslims bring a certain culture with them. Muslim migrants who refuse to integrate into the West try to impose their own belief systems on their host countries. Many try, for example, to establish parallel sharia law systems, the rules of which aim to oppress or even kill women, non-Muslims, and homosexuals.

Just recently, Germany was shocked by newly revealed footage from the mosque of the Turkish-Islamic Union DITIB Association in Herford. Pictures and videos showed four- to 7-year-old children parading in military uniforms with toy weapons and pretending to die as martyrs under the Turkish flag. Is this what passes for “cultural enrichment through immigration” now?

One serious problem seems to be the ignorance of many European officials about the teachings and traditions of Islam — including terrorism and violence. One European official who does understand is Hungarian Secretary of State Zoltán Kovács. Western European nations, he said, are paying a heavy price by pretending that Islam does not matter. “We’ve been living with and close to Islam for centuries in the past and we know about it. So, that’s why it does matter who has come in and in what manner people are coming,” Kovács told CBN News.

Last year, Turkish journalist Burak Bekdil wrote about his observations about illegal Muslim migrants in Greece: Many of the “‘poor” illegal migrants on the Greek islands want to go to Germany, where they have heard from friends and relatives that they will be the best paid for being refugees. The notion that poor souls are fleeing war, although many may still be, is becoming less and less convincing by the day.

“It is ironic that millions of Muslims are trying, through dangerous means, to reach the borders of a civilization they have historically blamed for all the world’s evils, including those of their own countries. The ‘romantic’ West does not question why millions of West-hating Muslims are heading in their direction. Or is it ‘Islamophobic’ to point out that there is no war in Greece, Serbia, Hungary, or Austria?”

Now that ISIS has been defeated in Syria and Iraq, where are its former fighters now? And how many have already crossed the border to Europe? Of the new refugee and migrant arrivals in Greece, how many are jihadis planning to attack Europeans or “moderates” who could get “radicalized” later on? Is it even possible to know?

What is clear is that, as Erdogan keeps threatening France with more terror attacks, European officials need to be extra cautious about who are crossing their borders.

Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist born and raised in Turkey. She is presently based in Washington D.C.