Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front

The extremely anti-Semitic and anti-Christian Great Eastern Islamic Raiders’ Front (IBDA-C) has allegedly been active in Turkey since the 1970s, but it was officially “founded” in 1985. With the stated aim of replacing Turkey's secular government with Islamic rule, the group has been most active in the region around Istanbul since 1993. The group's alleged leader, Salih Izzet Erdis, was arrested in 1998 and remains in prison.

The IBDA-C was first heard from in 1989 after it held demonstrations in Istanbul, and it has been aggressive since the early 1990s. Targeting Turkish secularism, the group's members have murdered scores of journalists, politicians, and academics outspoken in their defense of a secular Turkey.

Erdis, the leader of the IBDA-C, is also known by the name Salih Mirzabeyoglu and is referred to as “the commander” by IBDA-C members. He was arrested on December 29, 1998, and put on trial at the Istanbul State Security Court for “attempting to replace the Secular Constitutional order with Islamic Sheriah rules.” The Turkish court sentenced him to death for “the armed attempt to overthrow the constitutional order.” Two of his cohorts were sentenced to 18 years in prison. Apparently, Erdis later tried to hang himself in his cell, but a fellow inmate cut the rope.

The structure of the IBDA-C allows members to organize independently. Anyone familiar with and subscribing to the beliefs of the IBDA-C can form a group and begin to function autonomously. These cells are usually small, with four or five members that act as their own front, or team, within the organization. Some past IBDA-C fronts have been called “Ultra Force,” “Altinordu,” “Lazistan,” and “Union of Revolutionist Sufis.”

Since the early 1990s, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks on left-wing, Western, and secular targets. It published a list of Jewish targets, murdered a famous film critic, and sent a dire warning to a Turkish TV journalist, whom it accused of being “anti-Islam.” Group members have also targeted banks and taverns, and even brothels and discotheques.

The number of IBDA-C members is unknown, but the IBDA-C name is well known throughout Turkey. While many have been imprisoned, the group remains active in publication and has many bookstores, websites, and printing houses, where meetings are often held. The front is suspected of the 1997 bombing of the Ecumenical Patriarchate Cathedral in Istanbul—an act strongly condemned by the United States. Its most notable attack, though, was the 1999 pipe-bomb assassination of Ahmet Taner Kislali, a former minister, professor, and respected newspaper columnist—and a firm critic of Islamic fundamentalism.

Turkish authorities have continued to arrest and try IBDA-C members, which has reduced their threat. According to Turkish officials, 20 separate operations were staged against IBDA-C in 1998 and 1999, leading to the capture of some 170 suspects and clarification of 35 acts of terror. The group still manages to make small attacks, but it is no longer believed to be capable of pulling off large, sophisticated operations. In November 2003, IBDA-C took credit for a series of deadly suicide-bombing attacks against synagogues, the British consulate, and a bank in Istanbul, but these were later found to be the work of al Qaeda.

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