Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

In a defense statement submitted to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to justify the unlawful imprisonment of a critical Turkish journalist, the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has shockingly defended a Turkish jihadist group that called for armed jihad in support of late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladin and that described Christians and Jews as infidels who should be killed wherever they are found, and even went as far as urging the beheading of Americans.

The case, brought to the Strasbourg court on May 7, 2015 by Turkish journalist Hidayet Karaca and settled on May 16, 2023 by the Second Chamber of the ECtHR, featured vigorous defense arguments raised by the Turkish government on behalf of the jihadist group Tahşiyeciler, led by Mollah Muhammed (aka Mullah Muhammed el-Kesri; real name Mehmet Doğan), an indicted radical cleric.

Karaca has been in prison since December 2014, when the Erdogan government, acting on a complaint by Mullah Muhammed and his associates, decided that the jihadist group had been smeared in an episode of a fictional TV series broadcast by Samanyolu TV and that Karaca, the the-general manager of the network, was responsible for it. Karaca was tried, convicted and sentenced to 300 years in prison for defaming the group. The conviction sent a chilling message to all Turkish journalists and rendered a radical imam untouchable under the protection of the political authorities.

The defense statements submitted to the ECtHR by the Erdogan government portrayed Mullah Muhammed’s group as a peaceful Islamist group and claimed he and his associates were slandered and had faced criminal prosecution in the past. The government hid the fact that the group was under surveillance of the country’s intelligence and law enforcement agencies starting in 2000 and that its leaders and members supported suicide terrorist attacks and al-Qaeda, targeted Christians and Jews, sent fighters abroad and illegally collected funds to support its operations.

Journalist Hidayet Karaca has been in a Turkish prison since 2014.

The government arguments to defend the imprisonment of journalist Karaca and whitewash the crimes of jihadist groups were made by Hacı Ali Açıkgül, head of the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Justice, who told the Strasbourg court that the group was a victim and wrongfully prosecuted, indicted tried and convicted between 2010 and 2014.

The ECtHR found violations in the imprisonment of the journalist in three out of four complaints filed under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). It unanimously ruled that the Turkish government violated Karaca’s rights by keeping him excessively and continuously in pretrial detention by means of rulings by courts that lack sufficient guarantees for their independence and impartiality.

However, it ruled with a majority that there was no violation in connection with the alleged lack of plausible reasons to suspect Karaca of having committed a criminal offense. Maltese judge Lorraine Schembri Orland dissented, saying there was no justifiable reason to detain the journalist. Norwegian judge Arnfinn Bårdsen, Macedonian judge Jovan Ilievski, Lithuanian judge Egidijus Kūris, Turkish judge Saadet Yüksel and Moldovan judge Diana Sarcu all went along with the Erdogan government’s defense.

There have been allegations that Turkish judge Yüksel and court registrar Hasan Bakırcı may have exerted influence in the favorable ruling for the Erdogan government in relation to the complaint filed under Article 5 § 1. It is believed that they downplayed the actions and views of the radical group regarding armed jihadist activity.

Mehmet Doğan (aka Mullah Muhammed el-Kesri), leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Tahşiyeciler terrorist group.

It is worth noting that Yüksel’s nomination to the ECtHR was made by the Erdogan government after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) repeatedly rejected nominees presented by Turkey, which raises concerns about potential bias. Additionally, there have been frequent instances in which Yüksel has aligned her decisions with the stance of the Turkish government in cases involving human rights violations originating from Turkey.

The ECtHR ruling in favor of the Erdogan government can be seen as a partial victory for President Erdogan. It is worth noting that Erdogan began publicly defending the jihadist group in 2014, shortly after being implicated in significant corruption investigations that came to light in December 2013. These investigations revealed the close connections between Erdogan, his son Bilal Erdogan and Yasin al-Qadi, a Saudi national who was once listed as an al-Qaeda financier by both the US and the UN.

The campaign to save the indicted Mullah Muhammed was first launched by the Sabah daily, owned by Erdogan’s family, on March 13, 2014, when an article tried to portray him as a victim. The government claimed that Mullah Muhammed was framed by the Gülen movement, a group that is highly critical of Erdogan on a range of issues, from corruption to Turkey’s arming of jihadist groups in Syria and Libya.

Mullah Muhammed and his associates faced a crackdown in 2010 and were indicted on counterterrorism charges after the police concluded that the group, monitored since 2000 by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, was getting ready to conduct terrorist attacks. During the raids, police discovered three hand grenades, one smoke bomb, seven handguns, 18 hunting rifles, electronic parts for explosives, knives and a large cache of ammunition in the homes of the suspects.

Mustafa Kaplan (L) and Mehmet Doğan (aka Mollah Muhammed, Mullah Muhammed el-Kesri) seen at a private sermon on February 7, 2023.

Hundreds of wiretaps that were collected in the course of the investigation portray a picture that Tahşiyeciler operated as part of global al-Qaeda, raised funds and sent Turkish fighters to join the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Police investigators concluded that “its activities to recruit to people to participate in terrorist acts in the so-called jihadi zone, the way it organizes itself, its purposes and acts which differ significantly from known terrorist organizations are considered to indicate that they are operating as part of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.”

In seized taped recordings that were found during the execution of search warrants, Mullah Muhammed was heard calling for violent jihad: “I’m telling you to take up your guns and kill them,” he said. He also asked his followers to build bombs and mortar shells in their homes and urged the decapitation of Americans, claiming that Islam allows such practices. “If the sword is not used, then this is not Islam,” he stated.

According to Mullah Muhammed, all Muslims were obligated to respond to then-al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s armed fight. He reiterated his fondness for bin Laden in a live TV interview after his release.

Intercepted email messages also exposed possible hit lists compiled by Tahşiyeciler for future terrorist attacks. The group was interested in businesspeople from the Sabataycılar (a secret Jewish community that follows Sabbatai Sevi and pretends to be Muslim) and other groups. It even collected names from tombstones in the Bülbül Deresi Cemetery, where Jews were believed to have been buried.

The Turkish president’s lawyer, Mustafa Doğan İnal, defended Tahşiyeciler in court. İnal also represented al-Qadi, a close friend of Erdogan who for years was listed as an al-Qaeda financier by both the UN Security Council sanction committee and the US Treasury.

Mustafa Doğan İnal is the personal lawyer of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

The Bakirköy 3rd High Criminal Court with a newly appointed panel of judges under a redesigned judiciary acquitted all suspects including Mullah Muhammed of al-Qaeda charges on December 15, 2015. Contrary to past actions, the Security General Directorate (Emniyet) also issued a new report whitewashing the activities of the group.

Mustafa Kaplan, a senior figure believed to be the successor of Mullah Muhammed in the Tahşiyeciler group and in charge of foreign operations, is another notorious figure. According to digital evidence seized in suspect Mehmet Sururi Kale’s home, several DVDs that had Kaplan’s recorded sermons from 2008 were found and logged in the evidentiary case file. In a DVD tagged No.1 that contains some of the speeches he delivered including ones in Germany, Kaplan was heard hailing fighters who leave their parents to fight in Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Bosnia. He describes them as the real men who are fighting in these places and encourages Turks to go and join the fight rather than stay behind like a woman.

He claims jihadists who emerged in Chechnya, China’s Xinjiang region and Afghanistan are the harbingers of the Mahdi, a messianic deliverer prophesied by the Islamic Prophet. He anticipates that those fighters will one day come to Turkey to turn it into an Islamic state. Mahdi’s army will crush India and China first before setting its sights on Europe, according to Kaplan, who believes that a Muslim army with a black flag will emerge in Central Asia and establish an Islamic state. He lamented that Muslims established an Islamic state in Afghanistan but that the Americans destroyed it. “Not to worry,” he quickly added, stressing that now fighters will take over the whole world, not just Afghanistan, kill Jews and liberate Palestinian lands including Jerusalem.

Mustafa Kapalan was behind bars between 1993 and 1995 for his jihadist operations in Turkey.

Kaplan does not hide his passion for al-Qaeda, saying that the whole world is terrified of al-Qaeda even though the terrorist group has limited resources and capabilities. According to transcripts of his taped speeches, he stated that the entire world heard their voices when the call to prayer was sounded from the twin towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He ridicules US troops for being afraid of teenagers in Iraq and says how the US troops are panicked by Muslim boys, stressing that it’s only death that could scare US soldiers. He brands the US as Dajjal, an evil figure in Islamic literature who is also called the anti-Christ. Kaplan makes a point that Muslims can neither have respect for Christians and Jews nor be befriended by them as they are infidels and should be killed wherever they are found.

According to the records, Kaplan was heard saying how drug, tobacco and alcohol-addicted Muslim boys would become heroes by leading the jihadist fight. He tells the tale of a drug-addicted Turkish boy from Istanbul’s Sefaköy district who went to Afghanistan, was trained in arms and engaged in heroic efforts afterwards. He often quotes his master Doğan as saying that the number-one job for Muslims is to establish an Islamic state based on theology. He went as far as claiming that Muslims can only save themselves by following the lead of Mullah Muhammed.

Some of Kaplan’s conversations in the seized DVDs apparently took place in Germany. As Kaplan talks to his comrades, he receives a phone call during which he tells the person on the other end that he is still in Germany. He says he would be in Bonn soon to give some talks. Ahlen, Dortmund and Anderten were mentioned in the phone conversation. He spews his hatred for Germany in these sermons, which he gave during a tour of German cities. For example, Kaplan said Germany would face the wrath of Muslims when it starts putting pressure on Turks and Muslims living in Germany. He promised that the Germans would soon regret sending troops to Afghanistan since fighters would come to Germany to punish them.

A disciple kisses hands of Mustafa Kaplan (R).

Apparently aiming to radicalize Turks in Germany, Kaplan mentions that Turks are hostages and prisoners in Germany because they have abandoned Islamic teachings. In the same speech he also says American soldiers have panic attacks when they see a 15-year-old Muslim boy in the streets of Iraq because young boys strap bombs to their bodies and blow themselves up, instilling fear in the hearts of infidels. He says a believer is not afraid of anybody and that killing oneself in a suicide bombing is better than living as a prisoner. He promises that heaven is waiting for those who martyr themselves, just like al-Qaeda’s twisted ideology. He makes a prediction that Muslims who are loathed today will soon take over Germany and France if they are really committed to their faith and act in line with God’s wishes. He says Berlin and New York will be battleground cities for violent clashes. At the end of this speech, he says he will be in Bonn to give further lectures.

Turkish journalist Karaca has been languishing behind bars since 2014 because the Erdogan government decided that he smeared this jihadist group with extremist views. In the meantime, both Mullah Muhammed and his deputy Kaplan are free to preach their venomous sermons and keep expanding their network in Turkey and Europe. The continued freedom of these radical individuals to propagate their poisonous sermons and expand their influence despite the imprisonment of a journalist who criticized them highlights the Erdogan government’s driving Islamist ideology, which is blatantly anti-Western.