The German branch of the Turkish Islamist organization Milli Görüs, known as the Islamischen Gemeinschaft Milli Görüs (IGMG), has announced that a delegation of its leadership has traveled to Bosnia-Herzegovina where they met with Bosnian Grand Mufti Mustafa Ceric. According to a translation of the announcement:
Under the leadership of Chairman Yavuz Celik Karahan, an IGMG delegation traveled in April to Bosnia-Herzegovina to attend the opening of the new campus of the International University in Sarajevo. The IGMG- Secretary General O?uz Ücüncü and his deputy Mustapha Yenero?lu also took part in the trip. On 5 April, the delegation visited the Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dr. Mustafa Ceric. Ceri? thanked the IGMG delgation for their services. “It is an honor to welcomme the president of the Islamic Community of Milli Görü?. The IGMG played a major role in the return of Bosnian Muslims to Islamic values ” said Ceric. The attitude of the IGMG given the pressure and accusations to which the IGMG is exposed was noteworthy. He also expressed his gratitude for the assistance of IGMG to the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica. The IGMG chairman Yavuz Çelik reported to the Grand Mufti on the activities of the IGMG and indicated the current difficulties. Subsequently, the delegation visited the owner of the newspaper Avaz, which is considered one of the largest media institutions of Bosnia, and the party chairman of the SBBiH, Fahrudin Radoncic. Radoncic gave information about the current political and economic situation of the country, party politics and the election preparations. He also urged Turkish businessmen in Turkey and in Europe to invest in Bosnia. Yavuz Celik Karahan informed Radoncic about the charity campaigns of the IGMG carried out in Bosnia. That evening the IGMG delegation took part in the opening of the university, in which even the Turkish prime minister and Turkish foreign ministers were present. The IGMG Chairman spoke to students at the IGMG student dormitories. Furthermore, the IGMG delegation took part on April 6 in the opening of the Working Forum in Sarajevo. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an and the Bosnian President Haris Silajdzic, opened the working forum, in which the more than 500 companies and institutes from home and abroad took part.
A previous post reported that in 2008, Dr. Ceric spoke at an IGMG event titled “Day of brotherhood and Solidarity ” held in Hasselt, Belgium.
In Germany Ibrahim El-Zayat, former head of the Islamische Gemeinschaft Deutschland (IGD), is married to the sister of Mehmet Sabri Erbakan who is in turn the nephew of Necmettin Erbakan, the leader of Turkish Milli Görüs. The IGD is considered by the German government to be the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in Germany. Mr. El-Zayat is highly active in managing Milli Gorus properties in Germany and in Holland where a mosque project he was involved with has become embroiled in controversy. He is also currently the subject of an on-going German law enforcement investigation, in which he is one of a group of individuals tied to the IGD suspected of forming a criminal association and intending to commit a crime by obtaining funds for its “politico-religious and ultimately Islamist goals. One of the other defendants in the case is Milli Görüs General-Secretary O?uz Ücüncü who is a business partner of Mr. El-Zayat.
Considered by some to be a leading “liberal” Islamic leader, Mustafa Ceric is tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood through his membership in the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), headed by Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and by his participation in the U.K.-based “Radical Middle Way” consisting of a wide range of associated scholars representing the global Muslim Brotherhood. Several earlier posts have discussed Dr. Ceric’s increasing visibility and importance within the global Muslim Brotherhood, noting that Ceric sees himself as a possible future leader of a “European Islam.” Dr. Ceric recently compared the Iranian Revolution with the French Revolution and Iranian media reported that Dr. Ceric recently told former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a meeting that he considers Iran a “good friend” of his country.” He is a frequent visitor to Germany.