Al al-Bayt calls for Iraqi, Syrian forces to cooperate against Turkish occupation

Today, the Al al-Bayt Association for North and East Syria issued a statement to the press and public, confirming that the Turkish state has occupied vast areas of Syrian territory and is pursuing the occupation of Iraqi lands in pursuit of its dreams embodied in a new Ottomanism.

The association affirmed that the occupying Turkish state, which follows the Ottoman approach, has caused significant damage to Islam and the good believers, particularly the Islamic approach which has suffered greatly and continues to do so.

The statement reads:

"In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, and peace and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his virtuous family, let our prayers and supplications be for peace, justice, and equality.

Allah Almighty has commanded that righteous deeds are the essence of goodness, and believers are those who hasten to do good.

Islamic history has witnessed the rise of dark and evil forces that negatively and destructively impacted Islam and caused great harm to the Muslim Ummah. ISIS (the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and its allies are among the most dangerous and worst examples of this century. There is no doubt that the Turkish state and its current president Erdogan are among the closest allies of ISIS, and no more hypocritical figure than Erdogan has ever appeared in Islamic history.

The Turkish state has occupied vast areas of Syrian territory and is moving towards occupying Iraqi lands, driven by its ambitions embodied in the new Ottomanism. It justifies its attacks by suppressing the legitimate and rightful demands of the Kurdish people. In reality, the Turkish state is an enemy of peoples and beliefs. The Ottoman occupation of the region, which lasted over 500 years, caused great harm to Islam and the good believers, particularly the Islamic approach, which has been significantly harmed and continues to suffer. The Al al-Bayt Association for North and East Syria aims once again to remind good believers and the lovers of Al al-Bayt of this truth. We also want to say that the Turkish state’s occupation attacks in Iraq and the Kurdistan region pose a grave and imminent threat to our collective future.

We, the Syrian citizens and the Al al-Bayt Association, are well acquainted with the Turkish state and its tricks. Erdogan’s government is a regime of national and sectarian fanaticism, hostile to the liberation forces that fought and defeated the terrorist ISIS organization. Just as it occupied Cyprus fifty years ago under the pretext of bringing peace, it has been occupying Syrian territories for ten years under the same pretext. This state has caused the displacement of millions of Syrian citizens and the destruction of hundreds of villages and dozens of Syrian towns and cities. Erdogan and his regime have deceived Syrian citizens by recruiting thousands of them as mercenaries to serve his interests and agendas. Recently, they have sent some of these mercenaries to Iraqi territories. This form of mercenarism is merely a new way to continue the political and military agreement between the Turkish state and the terrorist ISIS organization.

We have all witnessed the strife that Erdogan’s government intended to stir between the Kurdish and Arab peoples. The Turkish state's mentality is fundamentally based on the idea that the Kurdish and Arab peoples betrayed the Ottoman Empire. The reality of the occupation carried out by Erdogan’s government and its allies in Iraq is based on the Turkish state’s mentality, which declared years ago that “the borders between us and Iraq were drawn incorrectly, and they should have passed through the plains.”

The Kurdish people and the Assyrian Christians in the Bahdinan region are suffering greatly due to these occupation attacks. The Turkish state and its allies are waging a dirty war against the fighters of the Kurdistan Freedom Movement. Erdogan and his regime practice endless hypocrisy towards Islamic values and commit great sins, as evidenced by the dirty and fierce war targeting the existence of the Kurdish people and the relationships it forms with Netanyahu’s government. Therefore, we, the religious scholars of the Al al-Bayt Association for North and East Syria, call on the Iraqi people, especially the lovers of Al al-Bayt, to recognize the true danger posed by Erdogan and his regime. The propaganda promoted by Erdogan and Bahçeli against the Kurdish people is nothing but an attempt to obscure their main goal of reviving the new Ottomanism. Hence, we urge all political forces and factions in Iraq to adopt more impactful stances.

It is undeniable that some Kurds in the Kurdistan region who align with Erdogan and his government are among the reasons for the current security tensions in Iraq. All Iraqi forces must not be deceived by the pretexts and excuses of those Kurdish political and social groups aligned with Erdogan and his government, as both forces oppose the Kurdish people and the interests of the Iraqi people. We also call on those Kurdish circles to distance themselves from such detrimental actions.

The Turkish state, which committed genocide against millions of Armenians, thousands of Assyrian-Syriacs, and Arab people in the last century, is now striving to achieve genocide against the Kurdish people in the twenty-first century. The Turkish state and its regime, with their hateful and hostile mentality, can never be friends of peoples and beliefs.

The diversity of people in their languages, colors, cultures, and languages are signs from Allah Almighty. We, as believers, cannot allow or remain silent about Erdogan’s and the Turkish state’s crimes against the Kurdish people. Therefore, we urge everyone to prevent the continuation of the oppression and persecution that Erdogan’s government inflicts on the Kurdish people. Standing with the oppressed Kurdish people against the injustices of the Turkish state and Erdogan’s fascist government is a religious duty.

We hope to witness a more impactful, positive, and strong stance from the religious scholars of the Ummah of our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), all good believers, and all intellectuals and elite members of the Iraqi people. Their stance against injustice and oppression should be a model for the Iraqi and Islamic people. The stance of righteous Muslims and patriotic Iraqis will contribute to achieving true brotherhood in the Islamic world. Therefore, we, the Al al-Bayt Association, again call on all Iraqi political forces to raise their voices and take a firm stance against the Turkish occupation of Iraqi lands. At the same time, we call on all Syrian political forces to achieve unity among themselves and to struggle by all means against the Turkish state’s occupation and fascism.”

A-H

ANHA