Report of Israeli Think-Tank on the Global Muslim Brotherhood

Since that time, an Islamic news portal suggests that the AKP “was embraced” by most
<strong>of</strong> the supporters <strong>of</strong> Erbakan’s Millî Görüş movement as well as by others in the Turkish
political spectrum, as evidenced by its success in the 2007 general elections. 63
Prime Minister Erdogan appears to have maintained his ties with the Global Muslim
Brotherhood that date back to his time at WAMY. Former Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood
leader Mohammed Madi Akef told an Egyptian magazine in 2005 that he knew both
Erdogan and Erbakan well from when he had lived in Turkey and described both as
“good friends.” In June 2008, the Associated Press reported that Malaysian opposition
leader Anwar Ibrahim, a former WAMY colleague with many ties to the global
Brotherhood, took refuge in the Turkish Embassy following a police investigation
into sodomy allegations. The AP report cited a senior AKP member as explaining that
several embassies <strong>of</strong>fered to shelter Mr. Ibrahim, but Anwar chose the Turkish mission
“because <strong>of</strong> his close ties with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”
In addition, a 2006 Lebanese media article reported that Prime Minister Erdogan was
“an acquaintance and business partner” <strong>of</strong> Sheikh Yassin Abdullah Qadi, a Saudi
businessman blacklisted by the United Nations for funding terrorism. 64 The report said
that Erdogan defended Qadi, saying he trusted “Yassin Bey” (using a Turkish honorific
denoting utmost respect) as much as he trusted himself. Mr. Qadi had close ties to the
US Muslim Brotherhood through his ownership <strong>of</strong> a large block <strong>of</strong> the shares <strong>of</strong> Ptech,
a Texas s<strong>of</strong>tware company whose employees had further ties to terror organizations. 65
66
Ptech had an interlocking board membership and other ties to the SAAR Foundation,
a now-defunct network <strong>of</strong> Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia, which
was raided by the Federal government in March 2002 in connection with the financing
<strong>of</strong> terrorism. The leadership <strong>of</strong> the SAAR foundation, in turn, was largely the same as
that <strong>of</strong> the International Institute <strong>of</strong> Islamic Thought (IIIT), an important part <strong>of</strong> the
XI 67
U.S. Muslim Brotherhood.
Meanwhile, in Europe the Global Muslim Brotherhood has fused with the Turkish
Islamist political movement founded by Necmettin Erbakan. The leader <strong>of</strong> the Muslim
Brotherhood in Germany maintains an intimate relationship with the Islamische
Gemeinschaft Millî Görüs (IGMG) described by the German domestic intelligence agency
as having its “ideological roots” in the ideas <strong>of</strong> Erbakan, who founded the movement
in the late 1960’s and served as its former chairman. 68 The German intelligence agency
describes the IGMG:
The IGMG is a pan-European organisation with around 87,000 members,
according to its own statements. The European headquarters is located in
Kerpen (North Rhine-Westphalia). The number <strong>of</strong> IGMG members in Germany
is assessed to amount to 27,500 individuals. Its numerous institutions and
wide range <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>fers reach a much larger circle <strong>of</strong> people, though. According
to its own statements, the IGMG has 514 mosque communities, 323 <strong>of</strong> them in
Germany. 69
The German domestic intelligence agency also identifies the organization known as the
“Islamische Gemeinschaft Deutschland” (IGD) as essentially the representative <strong>of</strong> the
Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. 70 Ibrahim El-Zayat, for many years the leader <strong>of</strong> the
IGD, is married to Sabiha El-Zayat, the sister <strong>of</strong> Mehmet Sabri Erbakan, the nephew
XI
Anwar Ibrahim is a Trustee <strong>of</strong> IIIT.
32