I haven't heard, did you say "civil war"?

Early in the morning, after the FETÖ took control of the July 15 (2016) military coup attempt, I was 1 meter away from President Erdoğan in the Hall of Honor at Istanbul Airport.

General Ümit Dündar, then commander of the second army and current commander of the ground forces, did not want to answer my questions, and former President Abdullah Gül gave a superficial answer. As soon as Mr. Erdoğan, who never spoke, left the Hall of Honor in the evening, I wrote an article entitled "Turkey has entered a more difficult period: this time the problem will be created by sectarian sects".

During 50 months, the process took place in two directions: 1) The government did not prevent the Directorate of Religious Affairs, which is under its control, from directly interfering in politics by bringing it to the strongest financial level and even encouraged this; 2) The expansion of the spheres of influence of sects and organizations with radical ideologies in the country, to put it mildly, was turned a blind eye.

In other words, many sects, which were once seen as a threat to the state system, have already become partners in public administration, and have been replaced by radical organizations that have so far been unable to find a place to live in Turkey.

Imagine that a preacher, who was given no respite by the courts 20 years ago, now says that "there are 2,000 Salafi associations, which are armed with conventional weapons, and armed conflict is expected between pro-Iranian Shiites and Salafis, which could lead to a civil war in Turkey." Why does a preacher known to the public as "Cüppeli Ahmet" say these words?

Is it because he wants to share with the public the more radical threats against that state since the sect to which he belongs (Ismail Agha) already has enough say in the state? Or is it because he is concerned about the hostility of the Salafis of Saudi Arabian origin to the secular Turkish Republic? If he was worried, isn't it his responsibility to answer this question as well? How did the Salafis, who have been rejected by the Turkish public so far, are not only organized by forming 2,000 associations in 50 months but also bring the country to the point of civil war? Could the words of “Cüppeli Ahmet”, who does not accept Shiites as Muslims and said "pro-Saudi Salafis and pro-Iranian Shiites will wage a civil war", stem from the strategy of mobilizing the state against both Salafis and Shiites? This is also possible, and the "attempt to fish in troubled waters" by an experienced sectarian who is already well-versed in the hidden side of a politics and public administration, such as “Cüppeli”, should be welcomed in modern Turkey.

Regardless of the goals of the "Cüppeli" (or any other sect leader), if there really are 2,000 Salafi associations in Turkey and they really intend to enter into an armed conflict with pro-Iranian Shiites, there can be no discussion of this situation. The state must take the most radical measures to prevent this as soon as possible.

Can you imagine the bloody sectarian struggle between Salafi-Wahhabi Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran in the Middle East? According to one of the leaders of the sect in the country, now there is a danger of this bloody struggle’s being transferred to the borders of Turkey.

As it is known that the Salafi-Wahhabi movement has become more active in the southern and southeastern regions of Turkey in recent years (as a result of the Islamic State terrorist organization's goal of overthrowing the Alevi regime in Syria), everyone knows that the citizens of the Jafari wing of the Shiite sect live in Ighdir on the border with Nakhchivan, and have brought the Halkali district of Istanbul to the status of Gum and Najaf.

The non-serious side of the claim of "armed conflict between Salafis and Shiites and civil war" raised by "Cüppeli Ahmet" is that the Shiites of Ighdir and Halkali will enter into an armed conflict with the Salafis named after Sahib al-Zaman Hazrat Mahdi (as).

Yes, it is known that the Shiites of Ighdir, most of whom are from today's Armenia, have gained some influence in Turkey, and the Ashura ceremony held at the Zeynebiye Mosque in the Halkali district of Istanbul is one of the rituals that Shiites can show their strength.

However, this does not mean that the Turkish Shiites will take up arms and enter a civil war with the country's Salafis. Never. The sensitive point here is that the Salafis not only do not see the Shiites as Muslims but in general, they do not accept the Republic of Turkey as a Muslim country.

The state of the Republic of Turkey must, first of all, analyze the last words of "Cüppeli Ahmet", who is also known among the public for his "artistic words", and take urgent measures in this regard. Or, as the late Erbakan said, "there will be no spilled milk to cry over."

Mayis Alizade