Turkmen Government Cracks-Down On Subversive Nursi/Gulen Schools

In Turkmenistan, the Turkish schools closed

Oraz Ahmed

The country’s authorities are seriously concerned about the influence of the Turkish religious and political movement “Nurdzhular,” which is the main sponsor of Turkish schools and high schools in the CIS countries.

On the first of August in Turkmenistan close Turkmen-Turkish schools operating in the country since the early nineties. In Ashgabat, there was only one school number 57 named. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. A new set of the school discontinued, however, according to teachers and students will present an opportunity to complete training. In the provinces they were closed altogether. In the city of Turkmenbashi, for example, the local Turkmen-Turkish school has become the usual secondary school № 5 in Nebitdag – № 22 in Turkmenabad – № 42.

Turkmen-Turkish schools are schools that offer quality education. Graduates of these schools are fluent in Turkish and English, not to mention the serious training in mathematics, physics, chemistry and other subjects.

First opened in each regional center to the same school, and later in other large cities in provinces. In 1994, opened in Ashgabat International Turkmen-Turkish University, but across the country have opened additional centers for Turkish “Bashkent.” After years of work in Turkmenistan through these institutions have been thousands of young citizens of Turkmenistan, mostly boys.

However, we know that in addition to quality education, these schools actively, but covertly promote the ideology of Pan-Turkic – Turkic-speaking union of nations under the auspices of Turkey. In the CIS countries, this ideology is held movement “Nurdzhular”, his followers are also called “Nur”, derived from the name of the founder of Said Nursi. In Russia, for example, is considered an extremist movement, and all Turkish schools were closed early in the new century.

Graduates, the most deeply absorbed the Turkish values, ideas of moderate Islam, school heads sent to continue their studies at universities in Turkey. To do this, the Turkish government has allocated a special quota. The boys in higher education, many people continue to learn from the master’s and postgraduate courses. In Ankara and Istanbul has been the whole diaspora of young scientists – people of Turkmenistan are hundreds of people. After training, already at home with each other, they prefer to communicate in a foreign language, for drinking and non-religious people are scornful, contemptuous of women and their sisters, wives and daughters to wear hijab.

In the learning process in Turkey, some young people do not take “the playing field” and literally run away from their patrons, mostly in the United States. Spoke with one such young man on condition of anonymity.

“Later, the most loyal and ideologically processed alumni representatives of the movement” Nurdzhular “themselves” pushing “, including bribery, in responsible positions in key ministries and departments of Turkmenistan – Migration Service, Service for Drug Control, Ministry of Defense, National Security, the Interior Ministry … “- he says.

According to him, among law enforcement officials, there are people who have graduated, for example, the Military Academy in Ankara.

“The policy on the introduction of its people in law enforcement agencies of Turkmenistan has already produced results – the shortage of qualified local staff most of the staff of the Migration Service and the Drug Enforcement has over education in Turkish schools of different levels”, – said the source.

A recent graduate of the Turkish school in Turkmenbashi, said that the last couple of years, the number of Turkish teachers in Turkmenistan has become much smaller.

“We and our teachers openly called Wahhabis, and called the local authorities, security forces” – he said.

Talk Internet Forum Teswirler.com, resource, bringing together mostly graduates of the Turkmen-Turkish schools, commented on the recent news from Turkmenistan to the closure of the Turkish schools, ‘Y’ Nurdzhular ‘your goals, and we [the youth of Turkmenistan] own, and quite reasonable to work until way match. We must have your head on your shoulders, and then nobody can impose his you. “

In the country there is talk that next year the government shut down and the Turkmen-Turkish University, making it self-supporting institution.

The U.S.-Russian “Reset” and the Myth of the “Russian Threat”

Daniel Larison

Samuel Charap argues for the “reset” with Russia along much the same lines I did last week:

What it was, and remains, is an effort to work with Russia on key national security priorities where U.S. and Russian interests overlap, while not hesitating to push back on disagreements with the Kremlin at the same time. The idea is that engagement, by opening up channels of communication and diminishing antagonism, should — over time — allow Washington to at least influence problematic Russian behavior and open up more space in Russia’s tightly orchestrated domestic politics.

At the core of the reset policy is a determination that “linkage” — making bilateral cooperation on a given issue dependent on a given country’s behavior on other matters — is an ineffective instrument when dealing with states that are neither ally nor enemy. That’s especially true for great powers like China and Russia, which, whether Americans like it or not, play a major role on global issues that matter.

The usual tactic that the “reset-bashers” use when attacking this policy is to point to some Russian government move that Americans find objectionable, and declare on the basis of this or that episode that “the reset has failed.” Of course, what bothers the “reset-bashers” is precisely that the policy has not failed and keeps working, and their preferred policy of confrontation has been shelved because it already failed and made the “reset” necessary. These critics remain wedded to the notion of Russia as a neo-imperial power and a threat to regional stability, which is profound misunderstanding of post-Soviet Russia. Thomas Barnett comments on Dmitri Trenin’s new Post-Imperium: A Eurasian Story*, and explains that the reality is quite different:

Meanwhile, America moved in militarily from the south as part of its global war on terror, and China progressively encroached — in an economic sense — on Russia’s “near abroad” in Central Asia. To Moscow’s credit, Trenin notes, it has not moved toward any remilitarization of its relationship with the outside world. If anything, the military reform movement begun in 2008 signals Moscow’s near-complete abandonment of the field of great-power warfare, save for a nuclear deterrent that it nonetheless continues to reduce in agreement with the United States, the one power it truly fears.

One reason why the “reset” has been possible is that Russian ambitions are fairly modest. Barnett writes:

Instead, for the first time in modern history, we have a Russia that just wants to be Russia, and not an imperial project.

Most of the disagreements between the U.S. and Russia today concern how much U.S. and other influence Russia can accept along its borders. The “reset” is an indirect acknowledgment that the U.S. had pushed too hard to acquire influence in post-Soviet space. Washington seems to have recognized for now that this push for influence and the reaction to it were ultimately harmful to U.S. interests and the interests of Russia and its neighbors.

Brotherhood in Resistance–Collective Rapid Reaction Force (RRF)

Brotherhood in Resistance

In Lieu of the Revolutions in Africa and the Middle East, Heads of CSTO Member States Have Agreed to Establish a Joint Rapid Reaction Force that Can Legally Intervene in Case of Internal Conflict

By Tai Adelaja, Russia Profile

Whatever their revolutionary potentials, it would have been inconceivable a few years ago to expect social networks like Twitter or Facebook to galvanize dithering post-Soviet leaders into a concerted action. Yet, as heads of member-states of the Kremlin-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) gathered in Astana on Friday, it was precisely the perceived threat from such social networks that brought a sense of unity to the diversity at the summit.

Russia had long sought – sometimes using sticks and carrots – to bring former Soviet Union satellite states into its fold, but the efforts had largely failed as diverging national interests prevented many from moving too close to Moscow. But with Arab Spring protests spreading like wildfire in the summertime, some long-serving post-Soviet leaders are having second thoughts.

Discussions at Friday’s informal summit in the capital of Kazakhstan have focused squarely on the ongoing upheavals in the Middle East, and on how to prevent the Arab Spring protests from spilling over into the territories of the former Soviet states, the Kommersant business daily reported. But the leaders of the CSTO, a military-political alliance of seven countries including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, needed little persuasion to appreciate “the destructive role” that social networks had played in such protests. After a three-hour meeting behind closed doors, the leaders decided to create a unified preventive strategy for cyberspace, which could mean restricting the use of social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, widely seen as the bane of authoritarian Arab regimes, the newspaper said.

In a keynote speech, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev reminded his guests of the need to put up an impregnable wall against the spread of color revolutions on the territories of the former Soviet Union. Echoing similar calls made at the tenth summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in June, Nazarbayev also called for a curtailment of freedom in cyberspace. Unregulated information space, he said, poses “threats to regional security and stability in the CSTO member states, especially in light of the latest developments in the world.” The national security threat in cyberspace happens to be familiar territory for the Kazakh president. Conscious of the role that the Internet played in mobilizing protesters in Iran and Moldova in 2009, president Nazarbayev signed the “Law on the Internet,” which classifies all Web sites, blogs and forums in Kazakhstan as mass media and imposes strict regulations on them, including restrictions in reporting on elections, mass protests and strikes.

But as the Middle East continues to be wracked by a wave of protests that toppled long-serving leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, experts say some of the leaders gathered in Astana still have much to worry about. President Nazarbayev has been leading his nation for the past 20 years, while both Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and President Alexander Lukashenko have each ruled their countries for 17 years, sometimes with doubtful democratic credentials. President Lukashenko, the current chairman of the Moscow-led alliance, told journalists on Friday that the leaders have been discussing how the CSTO could help them avoid the fate of their colleagues from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. “We agreed to work together to develop measures to counter possible threats, especially in cyberspace,” Lukashenko said.

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, diverging political and economic interests have thwarted Moscow’s endeavors to transform the largely symbolic political organization into a credible security organization. However, the tumultuous events in the Arab world appeared to have changed all that. “In the past, some countries perceived membership in the organization almost as a burden, but the events in Africa have had a sobering effect, alerting them to the need for a concerted effort to resist such destructive tendencies,” a source told Kommersant on Friday. Lukashenko conceded as much, saying “recent events in the world, including the Arab arc and North Africa, beg for new areas of work.”

The leaders also took an unprecedented step on Friday to turn the CSTO, a largely symbolic political organization, into a more cohesive militarized security alliance with powers to intervene in internal conflicts in member-states. President Lukashenko, who in the past vehemently opposed the creation of the organization’s Collective Rapid Reaction Force (RRF), said member-states are now determined to complete the process of recruiting and equipping CSTO’s rapid reaction forces “in view of the difficult situation in the world.”  The RRF, he said, would deal with issues like border conflicts, but could also be used to repulse military aggression and combat international terrorism, organized crime, drug trafficking and other emergencies. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said the CSTO rapid reaction force, which now numbers about 20,000 troops, “has become a regional force that can neutralize potential threats.”

Analysts said, however, that the measure could run into bumps, as it entails making amendments to the CSTO charter so that the alliance’s forces can intervene on the territories of member-states. “It is a double-edged sword and many countries in Central Asia and Belarus are unlikely to want to give Russia an opportunity to interfere in their internal affairs,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor in chief of Russia in Global Affairs. “Allowing the RRF to intervene in internal conflicts could also transform it into the likes of Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council, which is now largely engaged in quenching revolutionary fires across the Arab world.”

New Group, Calling Itself “Baloch Liberation Tigers” Announces Its Birth In Hotel Blast

[With this bombing, the war in Balochistan may have just gone to the next level.  This announcement by the previously unknown terrorist group "Baloch Liberation Tigers," links it to the other new "wild card" to arise in the Tribal Region, the "Asian Tigers."  This group is the one which last year kidnapped Khalid Khawaja and Col. Imam, before later executing them.  They proved to be independent from the terrorist hierarchy, specifically, ignoring the pleas of both Mullah Omar and Sirajuddin Haqqani to spare the "Father of the Taliban."  The Asian Tigers apparently took orders from Hakeemullah Mehsud, leader of the Pakistani Taliban.  Perhaps Khawaja's fatal mistake was in presenting a list of Taliban commanders who worked for Indian intelligence (RAW), since Hakeemullah's name should have been at the top of the list.  Hakeemullah's specialty has proven to be killing Shia.  He is probably linked to the anti-Shia terror attacks in and around Quetta.   Balochistan is home to RAW's biggest operation on Pakistani soil (SEE: The Stunning Investigative Story on the Birth of Balochistan Liberation Army–Mar 1, 2005 ).  There are no coincidences in the spy game, meaning that if both anti-Pakistan militant groups adopt the moniker “Tigers,” at roughly the same time, then it demonstrates linkage.  It will one day be proven that both terrorist groups work for the same paymasters. 

Blast kills 15 on Independence Day

* 23 wounded as bomb rips through a roadside restaurant in Dera Allah Yar

* Four suspects arrested in connection with bombing

* Little-known Baloch Liberation Tiger claims responsibility 

* Toll could rise as several people believed to be trapped in rubble

By Muhammad Zafar

QUETTA: A blast at a hotel on the National Highway close to Dera Allah Yar killed 15 people and injured 23 others on Sunday.

A bomb that was attached to a timer ripped through a two-story hotel, reducing the building to rubble, police said. The attack also wounded 23 people, said Jaffarabad District Police Officer Javed Gharsheen. Police have taken four people into custody who had tea in the hotel’s restaurant and left just before the bomb went off, he said. Dera Allah Yar is some 350 kilometers east of the provincial capital of Quetta.

Most of the people died on the spot. The dead and injured were taken to the civil hospital, however, most of the seriously wounded were referred to Larkana and Jacobabad hospitals for better treatment. A little-known organisation, Baloch Liberation Tiger (BLT), claimed the responsibility for the devastating blast, in which unarmed civilians were made target of mass killing for the first time. Rescue workers and police were removing the rubble to find any survivors. Police said the death toll could rise as several people were believed to have trapped in the rubble.

A BLT spokesman, who introduced himself as Miran Baloch, phoned local office of a news agency and said it was a remote-controlled blast and members of his organisation had planted the bomb inside the hotel. He said his organisation will target those people who participate in the celebrations of Independence Day of Pakistan. According to eyewitness accounts, the victims were taking their mid-day meal and there was no evidence that they had participated in any function in connection with the Independence Day.

The blast destroyed the double-storey building of the hotel and reduced it to rubble. The explosion rocked the town and caused panic among its residents. Jaffarabad DPO said that the unknown miscreants had planted an explosive device inside the Bismillah Hotel, one of the three hotels on national highway in Dera Allah Yar, which was open in the holy month of Ramazan to serve food to passengers. He added that the terrorists detonated the device by remote control when people in a large number were inside the hotel. Around 12 kilogrammes of explosive was used in the blast, Gharshin said. The sources in the district administration, however, told APP that about 35 kilogrammes of explosives were used in the blast. The blast also caused damages to nearby shops and buildings.

The personnel of Frontier Corps and police rushed to the spot and sealed off the area. They started a rescue operation which lasted several hours and retrieved 15 bodies and 19 after hours’ long hectic efforts. “Teams of Bomb Disposal Squad were dispatched from Sukkur and Quetta to inspect the site,” Gharshin said.

Those killed in the blast belonged to Dera Allah Yar, Dera Murad Jamali and nearby villages, and had come to the hotel for taking midday meal. The district police said that another bid of sabotage was foiled on a tip-off, as the police and Bomb Disposal Squad recovered 10 kilogrammes of explosives near a gasfield on National Highway passing through Jaffarabad district.

Abbas Offers Future Palestinian State Into NATO’s Hands

Hizb ut-Tahrir accuses PLO of betrayal

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) – The Islamist Hizb ut-Tahrir movement has slammed as “betrayal” President Mahmoud Abbas’ remarks about a possible NATO presence in a future Palestinian state. 

The president’s “call for international forces would bring a new crusader occupation,” the movement said Friday in a statement saying the plan would lead to “colonizing Palestine and desecrating the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”

Abbas told visiting US congressmen Thursday in Ramallah that the security of the future state could be handed to NATO under US command, his adviser told the official Palestinian Authority news agency.

Hizb ut-Tahrir “considers this step a conspiracy against Palestine and the Palestinian people,” and it accused the Palestine Liberation Organization of “betrayal because it accepted unjust resolutions.”

The pacifist Islamist group also came out against the plan to seek recognition of statehood from the UN in September, calling the world body a “den of conspiracy against Muslims and Palestine.”

The UN will never grant the Palestinians a real state, and the leadership should stop relying on agreements with Israel and “American promises” to achieve their goals, the movement added.

The secular Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has had a tense relationship with Hizb ut-Tahrir, which calls for restoring an ancient Muslim caliphate and rejects modern governance.

In early July, Palestinian security forces imposed restrictions on demonstrations organized by Hizb ut-Tahrir commemorating the 90th anniversary of the collapse of the Muslim caliphate.

Forces also arrested and assaulted members of the group holding rallies in the West Bank.

Palestinian human rights groups condemned the government’s use of force at the time, while security officials accused the Islamist movement of attempting to create “chaos” for the PA.

US Strong-Arming India Into Ruining Iranian Relations

‘India ruining Iran trade ties under U.S. pressure’

The Hindu

The much-hyped gas pipeline project was scuttled

India is spoiling its deep-rooted trade and commercial relationship with Iran influenced by the pressure tactics of American imperialists, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Prakash Karat has said. He was opening a seminar on ‘War on terrorism: a U.S. agenda on the Arab world’, organised by the Keluettan Study and Research Centre, here, on Saturday.

Mr. Karat criticised that the gas pipeline project for the cost-effective supply of gas from Iran to India was scuttled as India succumbed to the U.S. pressure. Though the country had earlier depended on Iran to meet around 12 per cent of its total oil resources requirement, things witnessed a change recently following the mounting pressure of the US, he blamed.

“For the past six months, the bank transactions between India and Iran too have been remaining blocked under the strategy of the American imperialists,” he said, adding that “Our country was yet to make any payment for the oil resources it purchased from Iran for the last six months.”

The CPI (M) leader also accused that India was sacrificing its own interest for endorsing the strategic movement of imperialists to invade into the Arab world for plundering oil resources. “All the Arabian countries are now facing threats against their nationalism as fundamentalists — sponsored by the imperialist forces — make inroads into their regime to hijack Arab democratic aspirations,” he said.

Referring to the call of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to support the U.S. for their “humanitarian interventions” in Syria, Mr. Karat said “India, as per the U.S. ploy, would never be able to challenge the dictate sacrificing its long-pending aspiration to be a permanent member in the United Nations Security Council.” According to Mr. Karat, the term ‘humanitarian intervention’ was the latest ploy of the United States after its anti-terror campaigns for imperial agendas.

The CPI (M) leader also said the anti-terror movements of the U.S. in Arabian countries largely resulted in demonizing the Islam community and creating sectarian warfare. He called upon the civic community of India to extend moral support to the Arab citizens in their fight to thwart western attempts of hijacking national awakening.

CPI (M) district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan presided over the inaugural function.

Pakistani Taliban Killing “Col. Imam”

Hakeemullah Mehsud supervising the killing

Pakistani Taliban Killing “Col. Imam”, posted with vodpod