Report of Israeli Think-Tank on the Global Muslim Brotherhood

THE NETWORK STIRS (2006)
2006 saw the first significant developments in the Turkish/MB network. The year
had begun with two important events pertaining to Hamas. On January 25, Hamas
won enough seats to form a majority government in the elections for the Palestinian
Legislative Council (PLC), the legislature <strong>of</strong> the Palestinian National Authority
(PNA). 186 On February 16, a five-man Hamas delegation headed by political leader
Khaled Mashaal arrived in Turkey. The delegation was expected to meet with Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but several hours after the arrival <strong>of</strong> the
group, the Prime Minister’s <strong>of</strong>fice announced that no meeting would be held, and the
delegation, including Mashaal, met instead with Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah
Gul at the AKP headquarters. XXII 187 In early July, Turkish media reported that Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had met with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on a trip to
Damascus. 188 The remainder <strong>of</strong> the year saw two important conferences involving Global
Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi held in Istanbul and the first known
joint actions <strong>of</strong> the Turkish/MB network including IHH, which took place during the
Lebanon War.
Qaradawi Comes To Turkey
For the first known time, two significant meetings <strong>of</strong> the Global Muslim Brotherhood
were held in Turkey during July 2006. From July 1-2 2006, a conference was held in
Istanbul titled the “Muslims <strong>of</strong> Europe Conference.” Organized with the support <strong>of</strong>
the UK Foreign and Commonwealth <strong>of</strong>fice, the conference steering committee included
important leaders <strong>of</strong> the Global Muslim Brotherhood such as Tariq Ramadan, German
Muslim Brotherhood leader Ibrahim El-Zayat, French Muslim Brotherhood leader
Fouad Alaoui, and Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric. 189 190 Conference participants
also included, most notably, Youssef Qaradawi but also important Global Muslim
Brotherhood leaders such as Tunisian Rashid Ghannouchi, FIOE <strong>of</strong>ficer Ayman Aly,
and the former Deputy Prime Minster <strong>of</strong> Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim. 191 The Turkish
participants included many individuals from the Turkish religious establishment such
as Mehmet Aydin, the Chairman <strong>of</strong> Religious Affairs under the Erdogan government,
as well as numerous scholars and academics. XXIII
Also held in July 2006 in Istanbul was the Second General Assembly <strong>of</strong> the International
Union <strong>of</strong> Muslim Scholars (IUMS), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader
Youssef Qaradawi. XXIV 192 The IUMS meeting was hosted by two Turkish NGO umbrella
organizations known as the Türkiye Gönüllü Teşeküller Vakfı (TGTV) and the İslam
Dünyası Sivil Toplum Kuruluşları Birliği (İDSB), or in English, the Union <strong>of</strong> NGOs <strong>of</strong> the
Islamic World (UNIW). The TGTV had been founded in December 1994 with the intent
<strong>of</strong> fostering ties among the Islamist NGOs within Turkey. 193 The organization is known
to engage in a variety <strong>of</strong> activities, including publishing books and reports, holding
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
A Turkish <strong>of</strong>ficial who spoke on condition <strong>of</strong> anonymity said Erdogan changed his mind in part because <strong>of</strong>
intense pressure from the Bush administration.
Many <strong>of</strong> these are associated with the “Common Word” project. See http://www.acommonword.com.
The IUMS was launched in July 2004 in conjunction with a visit by Qaradawi to London for a meeting <strong>of</strong>
the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and appears to serve as a kind <strong>of</strong> leadership body for
Global Muslim Brotherhood scholars and clerics.
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