Orientul Mijlociu

At a recent conference in Cologne on the future of Europe’s Muslims, Ali Erbaş, the head of Turkey’s state religious authority, the Diyanet, railed against what he called the “increase in anti-Islamic discourse and actions… [that] threaten European multiculturalism.”

In his keynote address to the conference, hosted by Turkey’s main Islamic body in Germany, DITIB — based in the Cologne Central Mosque, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated during a visit to Germany in September — Erbaş declared:

Pour raconter son histoire, Fayçal prend ses précautions. Il n’accepte de parler qu’en-dehors de son quartier, dans un café discret. Le jeune homme n’a pas encore 30 ans. De forte corpulence, il a un visage doux et arbore un sourire gêné. Méfiant, il regarde constamment autour de lui. Après avoir passé plus d’un an en Syrie, il est retourné chez ses parents. Depuis, il ne sort presque plus de chez lui et se sent surveillé en permanence.

Né au sein d’une famille assez aisée de la classe moyenne, Fayçal grandit dans un quartier populaire. Employé dans l’entreprise de ses parents, il est indépendant financièrement et a une vie stable.

Après la révolution, son “entourage” qu’il juge conservateur, l’incite à se tourner vers la religion. Il se met à fréquenter la mosquée du quartier et assiste aux “dourous”, des cours de théologie prodigués par l’imam. Comme dans les médias ou sur les réseaux sociaux, le conflit syrien y est constamment abordé et Fayçal commence à s’y intéresser. “Des femmes, des enfants massacrés, c’est impossible de rester insensible”, se souvient-il. “Beaucoup de jeunes sont partis, persuadés de devoir aider leurs frères sunnites”.

The Syrian jihad presented invaluable opportunities for
al-Qa`ida to establish what it had always sought: a popular,
broadly representative jihadi resistance movement
that could support the creation of an Islamic government
presiding over an expanse of important territory. Jabhat
al-Nusra assumed the mantle of responsibility in seeking
to achieve this grand goal. And it did remarkably well, up
to a point. As conflict dynamics evolved, however, the goal
of transforming into a mass movement with social and political

He was a dreamer, with Che Guevara looks — a jet-black beard and eyes — who built a new persona online, as a Muslim warrior riding into battle in the back of an open-bed truck, dressed in black, his long hair blowing in the breeze, with an AK-47 hanging from his shoulder, strapped to his back. He had just turned 22 — the product of British private schools, a computer aficionado working in customer service at Sky News — when he decided to turn his dream into reality.

Although the phenomenon of foreign fighters is certainly not new, recent developments in Syria and Iraq have put this issue back on the European Union’s security agenda. The Western Balkan region is not an exception to this trend. Violent extremism in the region is generally perceived through the lens of Islamist radicalisation and foreign fighters who joined Daesh or Al-Nusra in Syria and Iraq. Other forms of extrem- ism, such as right-wing nationalism, if acknowledged at all, are regarded as a secondary concern.

Although national legislations recognise foreign fighting as a criminal act regardless of the destina- tion, returnees from the Middle East face a robust security-based response in their countries of origin, whereas those returning from Ukraine usually remain exempt from prosecution and severe sanctions. This highlights the question of perception and treatment of foreign fighters by Western Balkan governments, particularly after an alleged coup attempt was foiled during Montenegro’s general elections in late 2016, revealing the role of former Western Balkan combatants fighting alongside pro-Russian separatists in the Ukrainian conflict.

Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit on Thursday called for an international probe into “crimes” committed by Israeli occupation forces against Palestinians during a protest on the Gaza border on Monday.

“We call for a credible international investigation into the crimes committed by the occupation,” Abul Gheit said at the opening session of an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo to discuss the developments.

The League of Arab states has set out plans to counter the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and any other state, according to a document released after a ministerial meeting of the organisation in Cairo.

The document said the plan, which must be prepared in two weeks, will include political, judicial and economic measures.

The live fire actions by Israeli soldiers and the killing of almost 100 Palestinians and the wounding of thousands of others in two weeks of protests on the Gaza-Israel border were “unjustified and disproportionate,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Tuesday.

Speaking to the French Parliament a day after almost 60 Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli snipers during a protest, Le Drian recalled the “firm condemnation of France” in light of these killings.

Pier Antonio Panzeri, Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights, has condemned the killing of nearly 60 Palestinians by Israeli troops at the Gaza Strip on Monday.

“We cannot remain silent in the face of what happened on Monday: a number of Palestinians killed and injured, amongst them several children, during the mass demonstration near the Gaza fence. Nothing can ever justify the use of military force against civilians who exercise their legitimate rights to protest peacefully,” he said in a statement Wednesday.