The
best strategy to defeat IS
Harun Yahya ; The
writer has authored hundreds of books translated in many languages on
politics, religion and science
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JAKARTA
POST, 05 September 2014
What is the Islamic State (IS) movement? How
can it commit such violence in the 21st century?
How did it obtain so much power and what does
it want? What is the solution?
In his recent speech, even US President Barack
Obama admitted that “they haven’t figured out a strategy for IS yet.” Further, the international community has
spent significant amounts of resources in the Middle East to battle radicals
in the region to bring an end to terrorism since 9/11, yet the problems
continue to escalate in the Middle East.
IS is not a shadow, run-of-the-mill,
small-time terror group. It is a force to be reckoned with. Taking large
swaths of land in both Syria and Iraq, it aims to establish a caliphate. In
Iraq alone, due to IS’ ruthless aggression and inhuman practices, 1.25
million people have left their homes and fled to other towns, or left Iraq
altogether.
The attacks in Iraq also have major
repercussions for Turks in the north. Hundreds of thousands of Turkmens,
Arabs and Kurds living in these areas have already been forced to abandon
their homes. Those who remain are suffering greatly under IS’ extremely
repressive policies.
Some 300,000 Alawite-Bektashi Shabaks with
close ties to Turkey have also been subjected to these attacks. In addition,
48 people at the Turkish Consulate in Mosul were taken hostage by IS and
still have not been released. IS is also trying to capture the Tomb of Shah
Suleyman, which is Turkish sovereign territory, in Aleppo.
To understand IS we must look deeper into the
ideology that drives it. The majority of the experts get the IS phenomena
wrong. It is not just a group of misguided people but a way of looking at
life.
The notion of taking out its members one by
one is completely misguided and will not destroy it. We have to deal with its
ideology, its foundations, and we need to cut its life line — the new
recruits — by explaining to the youth how it is a deviant form of religion.
IS, which misinterprets the Koran and relies
on non-Koranic sources filled with nonsense, employs policies of the severest
repression based on an erroneous philosophy. The more it departs from the
essence of Islam, the more inhumane, repressive, despotic and violent its
rule becomes.
While IS has become stronger, drawing
thousands to its ranks with promises of power, money and adventure,
policymakers have started looking into finding quick fixes with minimal cost
and impact. There is one disturbing scenario that begs closer scrutiny.
It is how the US and Europe seem to be willing
to arm the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), hoping that it will bring an end to
IS.
It is quite ironic that the US could arm the
PKK, an organization that has been designated as terrorist, to destroy
another terror group, namely IS.
This strategy is fundamentally flawed and is a
highly implausible scenario that has no chance of success whatsoever.
The PKK emerged in the 1980s with a
Marxist-Leninist ideology and has used violence and terrorism for the past 30
years in an attempt to break apart southeastern Turkey. In doing so, it
claimed the lives of 60,000 people. The PKK is a communist, Stalinist and
Leninist organization that merely uses Kurdish nationalism as a tool in light
of its own interests.
Communist terror seeks to spread fear among
people and to slaughter as many as possible, regardless of whether they are
women or children.
With its terrorist actions, the PKK is
fulfilling this requirement of communism. Terrorism will not be eliminated
until the communist mindset is done away with.
Violence is an inherent part of the PKK
philosophy. Thus, we should realize that laying down arms is only possible
with ideas. So long as ideas remain unchanged, weapons may change, but they
will never be laid down.
Arming the PKK will not stop IS. Instead, some
circles hope that it will help the PKK in its fight against Turkey.
It is important that this baseless and absurd
idea of using the PKK against IS, as a disguise to further plans to divide
Turkey, is abandoned immediately.
Those that hope to divide Turkey should know
that Turkey will protect its territorial integrity and will not allow anyone
to break apart its land no matter how heavily armed.
You often hear the argument that the solution
lies in moderate Muslims speaking louder against the terrorists.
However, with regards to the IS problem, it
should be dealt with quickly but it takes more than words and speculation.
During the painful events of the Arab Spring,
its aftermath, and even more painful and horrific incidents that occurred in
Egypt and Syria, the majority of the Muslim countries maintained a shameful
silence.
It is high time for them to step in, take
action and act like real Muslims, rather than waiting for the US to swoop in
and save the day. They should come together, build a united front and speak
up against IS. They should ensure that political, religious figures as well
as respected opinion leaders among them clearly state their opposition to and
rejection of IS.
They should work to spread real Islam, which
is the epitome of peace, compassion and love. ●
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