18:10, 7 May 2014

Turkish authorities express concern over killings of Muslim leaders in the Caucasus

The Turkish authorities worried over the murders of Muslim religious leaders committed in the Russian Caucasus, said Mehmet Germez, Head of the Department on Religious Affairs of Turkey.

"We are very anxious about the killings in the Caucasus of many religious leaders who were not radicals and possessed the necessary knowledge, committed over the last 4-5 years," said Germez at a meeting in Ankara with the Russian delegation headed by Shafig Pshikhachev, the chairman of the Foundation for Support of Islamic Science, Culture and Education.

The Turkish official has expressed concern that the perpetrators are still not found. "We are afflicted with the fact that those who had committed the crimes are still unknown," the RIA "Novosti" quotes Mr Germez as saying on May 6.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported about murders of and attacks on religious leaders in North Caucasus. Thus at night on April 11, Magomed Zakaryaev, a madrassa teacher and an Imam, was shot dead. Law enforcers have not ruled out that the motive of the murder could be in his professional activities, in particular, his fight against Wahhabism.