Has the Salafi vaccine taken hold?

In my book Syrian Migration, which I penned in 2018, I issued warnings as best as my mind and intellect allowed.

I said that uncontrolled migration is not just a demographic, social, or economic issue for Turkey; it is also an ideological transfer. Among the ideologies being transferred, one of the most dangerous is Salafism. In other words, there is a Salafi vaccine being administered to Anatolia! For this reason, it must be treated as a security file in its own right. If left unchecked, it could fundamentally shake the country's security architecture in the long run.

Then, I pointed to the point where the danger was emerging.

“When considered alongside the demand of Western countries for a 'multi-ethnic, multi-identity Turkey' in the name of 'democracy,' the effort of refugees to become permanent in this country with their 'Arab ethnic identity' carries the characteristics of a stick of dynamite that will be placed under the country's national unity tomorrow, even if it does not catch the eye of the Anatolian people much today...

Beyond the further conservative transformation of society through Salafism and leaving it to the influence of Salafi movements, the fact that Syrian refugees will constitute a dominant justification for global power brokers to accelerate plans for creating a multi-ethnic society stands before us as clear as day.”

Six years have passed.

At the point we have reached today, we see that this assessment I voiced back then is no longer a “prediction,” but a reality confirmed by data on the ground.

My young journalist colleague Ercan Deniz Küçük has produced a very fine piece of reporting for Sol Haber.*

It is clear that he worked on it with the precision of a jeweler.

The data he presents, when read alongside the state's official records, clearly reveals the process Turkey is going through.

In the last five years, the assets of hundreds of people have been frozen on the grounds that they provided financing to terrorist organizations. A significant portion of these are foreign nationals. Even more striking is that dozens of these individuals have either received residence permits in Turkey or have been directly granted citizenship.

There is a critical piece of information in the report:

“According to data published in the Official Gazette, 98 of the hundreds of people whose assets were frozen in 5 years on the grounds that they provided financing to structures on the 'terrorist organization' list, such as ISIS and Al-Qaeda, were granted Turkish citizenship or permanent residence permits by the state.”

In other words, this is a group that the government calls “terror-linked” on one hand, while granting them legal status on the other.

This is not an ordinary administrative contradiction; perhaps it could be considered a systemic weakness born of good intentions. But we can say it is more of a manifestation of the classic political Islamist mentality.

So, how did we get to this point?

The answer must be sought in Turkey's foreign policy over the last 15 years.

Let us put on our reading glasses and slowly turn the pages.

When the Arab Spring, the updated version of the Greater Middle East Project, took Syria under its influence in 2012, a civil war broke out in the country, and this war soon turned into a regional devastation. Instead of staying out of the process, Turkey was often involved directly or indirectly.

The result?

A massive wave of migration where millions of people were displaced. However, this wave did not only carry civilians.

The same routes, the same borders, and Turkey's open-door policy... A transit line emerged for radical organizations. Today, we now know that some elements of these structures did not come to Turkey just temporarily.

They settled, started families, had children, formed “networks,” and found a social base for themselves.

Most importantly, they became permanent.

Let us speak clearly: since 2011, the country has turned into a thoroughfare. Anyone who broke their leash ended up in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, Bursa, Yalova, or Düzce.

The trouble did not arise only with refugees coming from Syria; for example, the terrorist who carried out the Reina massacre was Tajik!

The attacks in Istanbul are the most visible face of this picture. The bomb that exploded in Taksim, the armed attack targeting a church in Sarıyer... When you look at the perpetrators of these acts, the profile you encounter is not a coincidence. They are foreign radical elements.

But the story does not end there.

It turns out that some individuals caught in security operations have legal status in Turkey. Some have received residence permits, some have obtained the right to work, and some have been included in the system through citizenship. They are running rampant in Zeytinburnu and Sefaköy.

This is exactly the breaking point.

Because after this stage, the issue has ceased to be an “external threat” and has transformed into a structure growing from within.

There is another detail that stands out when looking at recent operations. For some organization members who are caught or neutralized, there is a specific emphasis on them being “Turkish citizens.”

Why is this emphasis important?

Because it is used to soften the perception of a “foreign threat” that might form in the public mind. Yet, in reality, this expression covers up a deeper problem.

How did those people become citizens?

What processes did they go through?

Which control mechanisms were implemented, or were they implemented at all?

As long as these questions remain unanswered, every statement made will remain incomplete.

At the point we have reached today, we must now state this clearly:

Turkey is not just a country of migration; it is also under the pressure of an ideological transformation. For a long time, Salafism was seen as an “external” element in these lands. Yet now, we are talking about a structure that is localizing, finding a social base, and building its own networks.

This is a much more serious situation.

Because an ideology that localizes, in addition to being a security problem, also transforms the social fabric, deepens cultural conflicts, and normalizes radicalization.

Moreover, this process is not progressing only through physical presence. The digital world provides a great advantage for these structures. Propaganda networks that know no borders bring people from different countries together on the same ideological ground. Due to its geographical location, Turkey is both a transit point and one of the target countries for these networks.

This shows that the threat has become multi-layered.

There is also an economic dimension to the matter.

The cheap labor market created by millions of migrants has turned into a great opportunity for capital. Informal employment has increased, and labor costs have fallen.

Who benefited from this situation?

Largely the employers.

And who lost?

Both the local laborers and the society facing the security risks created by uncontrolled migration. Politics, meanwhile, did not neglect to use this picture to its own advantage. The “Ensar” (Helpers) and “Muhacir” (Migrants) rhetoric used by the government to convince the people of our country is still in our memories. A language that oscillates between anti-refugee sentiment and “humanitarian rhetoric” has constantly postponed discussing the essence of the trouble.

Yet, the issue is not one that can be postponed.

We must read the picture standing before us today correctly.

Now let us come to the most critical question...

Is this process a case of negligence, or a conscious choice?

It is difficult to give an answer. However, this fact is clear. The political Islamist government did not knowingly and willingly manage the wave of migration created by imperialist interventions. Not only did it not manage it, but it paved the way for human mobility and saw the change in the demographic, cultural, and social structure of society as an unmissable opportunity for its own political goals. It constantly ignored the security risks created by this process.

At the same time, “foreign fighters” who would pull the trigger in regions adjacent to Turkey were recruited from among these incoming groups. The potential for ready-made soldiers was a windfall for the government!

Unfortunately, the circumstances and conditions, both outside and inside the country, are manifesting in such an unfavorable nature that we cannot even talk about these and similar issues properly, let alone discuss them in depth.

On one hand, the regional and global crisis that erupted with the Israel-US duo attacking Iran; the economy in Turkey literally coming to the brink of collapse in this chaotic environment; the step-by-step progress of a treasonous process that will tear the country to pieces, and so on... Unfortunately, no one is in a position to sit down and think about whether a Salafi vaccine is being administered to Anatolia through the refugees who have settled in Turkey.

There will be those who say that it is a luxury to put these and similar issues on the agenda while the public is being tested with hunger and poverty. To some extent, that is true, but it would be a big mistake to underestimate it.

Even if the people of our country are not very interested, Turkey is at an extremely critical threshold today. Either someone will read this process correctly and take the necessary steps... Or the country will face the consequences of a danger that is growing in plain sight in a much harsher way in the near future, let us conclude our article by saying.