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| Europe | |
| Turkish police detain five over mosque fires | |
| 2008-12-23 | |
| Turkish police detained five people allegedly connected to last week's series of arson attacks on mosques in Istanbul, where one mosque was destroyed and seven others damaged, state-run Anatolian news agency reported on Monday. Media in overwhelmingly Muslim but secular Turkey reported an unprecedented spate of fires in mosques this month, starting on Dec. 8 with Kartal's Yunus Emre Mosque and ending recently with six mosques set ablaze on Saturday and Sunday.
There has been persistent uncertainty over the cause of the fires. According to a report on the website of Milliyet newspaper, as many as 19 mosques have been targeted in the wave of apparent arson attacks. Police carried out an operation on the Asian side of Turkey's largest city, in the district of Kadikoy and the surrounding area where several conservative neighborhoods exist. Anatolian said that police were questioning the five suspects, however, police officials declined to comment on the report. "It is very difficult to comment on these attacks, but they are obviously organized. It can be no coincidence that eight mosques were attacked in such a short time," criminal sociologist Halil Ibrahim Bahar was quoted by Today's Zaman as saying. The fires caused limited damage, save Medine Mosque which burned to the ground. No casualties were reported. It was unclear what motives there might be for the fires in Turkey, where the Islamist-rooted government has long been at odds with the secularist establishment. But Bahar expressed concern over the nature of the attacks, saying that they aim to provoke people's religious sentiments. "The easiest way to provoke the public is to attack its religious values," he explained. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 I wonder what "brand" of Islam was being preached in those mosques. I'm also curious about what brand will be preached after they're rebuilt/repaired. I'd suspect it wasn't Wahabbi Islam that was preached, but may very well be the brand after repairs. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-12-23 11:55 |
| #1 Reichstag fire? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-12-23 02:17 |