Palestinian born Islamist  Ismail al-Wahwah, based out of Sydney, Australia gave a hate-laced harangue at an ‘international caliphate conference’ in Ankara, Turkey, early March. The media reported that around 5,000 individuals gathered at the conference, three days after holding another conference in Istanbul strategically on the end date of the Ottoman Caliphate some ninety-two years ago. In his speech he exhorted the audience to pledge,

“before Allah to restore the Caliphate, to raise the banner, to restore the Sharia, to unite the Islamic nation and to lead the armies of jihad that will conquer Europe and America so that the word of Allah will reign supreme.”

He also admonished the crowd about trusting in the West,

“They are all enemies. Their hearts are black. They hate you, your religion, your Muhammad, and your Quran.”

“Start dealing with them, before they start dealing with you. Cut of their hands before they sow corruption on the land. You in Turkey are able to do that, Allah willing.”

Ismail al-Wahwah is the spiritual leader of the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Russia and Kazakhstan. The group’s main goal is to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate, administering Sharia law. The group has also been known to reject democracy, capitalism, secularism and other such Western concepts.

Journeying through Ismail’s current community of Sydney, Australia one can tell these antics are nothing new for the cleric who is no stranger to polemical speech. Some of his previous statements include calling for the killing of Jews and the overthrowing non-Muslim governments. It was reported earlier this year that ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) the equivalent to the American FBI, dissuaded Ismail’s mosque leadership to tone down his sermons. So, it seems like Ismail found another venue for his extremism, Ankara, Turkey.

These types of gatherings are not uncommon in present day Turkey with a contentious political climate and rise in violent Islamic movements. Factoring in Turkish President Erdogan’s lack of desire to seriously counter Islamic extremism one can only speculate that Turkey will continue to attract followers of this kind of hatred. Our goal is to expose him and other jihadist minded individuals like him before their venom reaches the next victim.