According to the founder of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad hadiths, “In Dabik, the West will be defeated, after which the Muslims will conquer Constantinople” (Istanbul). Hadiths are considered to be divine revelations that were transferred to the Muslims thru prophet Muhammad. Hadiths are also considered to be the histories of the latter’s life. “In Dabik, the decisive battle between the Muslims and Crusaders or Christians is going to take place in a residence located in the north-east of Aleppo. Hadith says that this battle is going to be against the “Romans”. According to the same hadith, the Muslims are going to win this battle and as an outcome, they will occupy Constantinople, it means that again according to hadith, the center of the Christian world” – commented expert on Arabic studies Armen Petrosyan in an interview with Aravot.am.
According to his description, generally, statements periodically voiced about the capture of Istanbul, Rome, Madrid and a number of other big European cities by IS follow a propaganda purpose and are due to the situation created around this structure, “In particular, it is about the prospect of expected decisive hostilities, which in the near future may be initiated against this terrorist organization. On the one hand, the air strikes implemented by the US-led international anti-terrorism coalition, on the other hand, the recent land operations carried out by these coalition continental allies: the Kurds, some Syrian anti-government groups as well as Syrian army units, and the tactical movements allow to predict that a decisive attack is prepared against the IS in Syria, against the city of Rakka proclaimed a “capital” of this structure.
On the other hand, it seems that the military operations to liberate the city of Mosul, Iraq, have been launched by the same military coalition, the Kurdish troops and Iraqi army troops and the Shiite groups linked to them. As a result of the foregoing as well as due to the serious financial problems facing before this institution, not only the flows of new “jihadists” to territories under IS control are significantly reduced, but also a serious desertion in the ranks of the structure. Under these conditions, the structure resorts to such campaign tricks trying to implement the latest attempts of a consolidation of extremist Islamic radicals.”
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By Armen Petrosyan’s observation, IS uses a symbolic terminology in the aforementioned campaign, “In particular, Istanbul is perceived for Islamic-radicals as Constantinople, in other words, a center of Christian West. The statements about the capture of Istanbul also contain calls addressed to the Muslims to participate in the decisive battle of Dabik against the West in the near future. In other words, IS is also prepared for a serious resistance against the Syrian and Western forces.”
Our interlocutor noted that Turkey also understands that the statements about the capture of Istanbul by IS carry a campaign nature, “Under the current situation, the IS does not even have the chance to withdraw from its occupied territories in Syria and Iraq. This structure has achieved this level and today, it is also seriously dependent on the position of the Turkish government and politics. In this connotation, I think that IS will not initiate actions against Turkey, moreover, serious confrontation given also its significance for Turkey, especially in the Syrian processes and the fight against Kurdish structures. The border shootings and shelling carry a formal nature to show that allegedly there is a conflict between Turkey and the IS but it is also formal and for creating a campaign backdrop. There is no and cannot be serious conflict between these two role-players given the reality of mutual dependence,” concluded Armen Petrosyan. Note that the militants of the “Islamic State” in the context of the occupation of Istanbul are calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “a traitor selling Turkey to the Kurds and the US.”
Luiza SUKIASYAN
