Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front
| Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front İslami Büyük Doğu Akıncılar Cephesi |
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IBDA-C Flag
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| Leader(s) | Salih Mirzabeyoğlu |
| Dates of operation | 1970–present |
| Motives | To dismantle the Republic of Turkey and form the "State of Grandsublime". |
| Active region(s) | Turkey |
| Ideology | Sunni Islamism, Islamic fundamentalism |
| Status | Designated as a terrorist group by the European Union and as an "Other Terrorist Group" by the United States |
The Great Eastern Islamic Raiders' Front (İslami Büyükdoğu Akıncılar Cephesi in Turkish, abbreviated İBDA-C) is an Islamic militant organization which follows the Büyük Doğu ("Great East") ideology of Necip Fazıl Kısakürek (1904–1983), a well-known Turkish author, poet and Islamist ideologue. The group's self-proclaimed goal is to create a Sunni Islamic federate state in the Middle East and re-establish the Caliphate. They are notably hostile to Shia, Alevi, Christian and Jewish interests. IBDA-C carries on his pro-Islamic legacy with a newly born radicalism that wishes to restore religious rule to Turkey of whose government it finds "illegal" with an added willingness to commit acts of terrorism.
IDBA-C has a history of claiming credit for attacks most experts believe are beyond its capabilities, such as the November 2003 and July 2008 attacks on diplomatic, business, and religious interests in Istanbul. As such, its designation with the United States government continues to be as an "Other Terrorist Group", as opposed to the better-organized and -financed groups designated as official "Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations".
IBDA-C was founded in 1970 by Salih Izzet Erdiş, better known as Salih Mirzabeyoğlu. The group moved from rhetoric to violence in the 1990s, culminating in a series of 90 bombings and attacks in 1994.
Salih Izzet Erdiş, a spiritual follower of Kısakürek, was captured on Dec. 31, 1998, and sentenced to death in April 2001 for "attempting to overthrow Turkey's secular state by force". His lawyer, Ahmet Arslan, maintained that his client was no more than "a man of thought", arguing that there was a lack of concrete evidence supporting the charges. Erdiş's death sentence was later commuted when Ankara abolished the death penalty in August 2002.
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Wikipedia