A prominent Muslim group in Austria plans to sue the government for unveiling a controversial "Islam map,” according to local media reports. 

The Muslim Youth of Austria has harshly criticized the government for publishing a “political Islam map” that identifies the location of mosques and Muslim associations around the country.

"The publication of all names, functions and addresses of Muslim institutions and institutions that have been read as Muslim represents an unprecedented crossing of boundaries," the group was quoted saying over the weekend.

Last week, Integration Minister Susanne Raab launched a website called the "National Map of Islam" with the names and locations of more than 620 mosques, associations and officials and their possible connections abroad.

According to the Raab, the map was not aimed at "placing Muslims in general under suspicion.”

The objective was "to fight political ideologies, not religion," she said.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has repeatedly lashed out at what he calls "political Islam."

The group the “Islamic Religious Community in Austria” (IGGOE), which represents the interests Muslims in Austria, warned against stigmatizing all Muslims living in Austria "as a potential danger to society and the democratic legal order in the country.”

This campaign is stoking racism and "exposes Muslim citizens to a massive security risk," it added. 

Facing mounting racism in the aftermath of a deadly attack by Muslim militants in Vienna last November, Austria’s Muslim community is deeply concerned over government attempts to instrumentalize political Islam for its far-right political objectives./aa

QAMISHLI/AZAZ, Syria 

The PKK/YPG terror group continues to dig tunnels close to the Turkish-Syrian border, Anadolu Agency’s sources in the field said Monday. 

The tunnels are being dug in Qamishli, Al-Darbasiyah, Al-Malikiyah and Ayn al-Arab.

According to reports by Anadolu Agency’s field correspondents, the PKK/YPG dig tunnels, a tactic it copied from the Daesh/ISIS terror group, to infiltrate Turkey and launch terrorist attacks.

Entrances to the tunnel network are located only 2 kilometers (around 1.25 miles) from the border.

Construction of the tunnel network has caused significant damage to the region’s infrastructure, the sources noted.

The terror group, operating from Syria’s adjacent Tal Rifaat and Manbij regions, often carries out attacks in Jarabulus, Azaz, Afrin and al-Bab.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian branch.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019)./aa

Turkey won 18 medals at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships, the Turkish Weightlifting Federation (TWF) confirmed Monday. 

Competing in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, the Turkish athletes, including 10 men and 11 women, claimed six gold, six silver and six bronze medals in the tournament.

The women's national team collected 672 points to clinch the top of the standings for the first time in 17 years, the federation added.

The federation also said that the Russian team came in second with 608 points, while the US team finished in third spot with 594 points.

With 572 points, the men's national team trailed behind first-place Russia, which amassed 646 points in the men's category.

TWF President Tamer Taspinar congratulated the weightlifters and their trainers on winning the medals./aa

Two senior officials from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) visited a remote Bangladeshi island Monday in the southern Bay of Bengal to assess the living conditions of more than 18,000 stateless Rohingya, according to official sources.

With the facilitation of the Bangladesh government, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations Raouf Mazou and Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Gillian Triggs arrived on Bhasan Char island. They will also visit the mainland camps in the southern district of Cox’s Bazar.

In less than a week, three UN officials have visited the persecuted people in Bangladesh. On May 26, veteran Turkish diplomat and UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir visited Cox's Bazar, the world's largest refugee camp.

“Based on the preliminary findings of the first UN visit to Bhasan Char in late March, the UN clearly recognizes the prevailing humanitarian and protection needs of the Rohingya refugees already relocated to the island,” Louise Donovan, UNHCR communications officer in Bangladesh, told Anadolu Agency.

Referring to the UN's efforts to assess the living conditions and safety of Rohingya on the distant island, she added: “The UN has therefore proposed further discussions with the government of Bangladesh regarding its future operational engagement on Bhasan Char, including on the policies that govern the life and well-being of Rohingya refugees on the island."

The government has constructed 1,400 big cluster houses four feet above the ground with concrete blocks and 120 multi-storied cyclone shelters on the island. Each cluster house is made up of 16 rooms.

Spending over $350 million from its domestic resources, the Muslim-majority country has developed a resettlement project on 13,000 acres for temporarily resettling 100,000 Rohingya Muslims.

According to official sources, the silt island located 50 kilometers (31 miles) off the country’s southwestern coast and nearly 193 kilometers (120 miles) south of the capital Dhaka remains disconnected from the mainland and any potential assistance during natural disasters.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Shah Rezwan Hayat, Bangladesh’s refugee relief and repatriation commissioner, however, said they are hopeful about the UN's positive move in the future for Rohingya on Bhasan Char island.

Noting the better living conditions and safety on the island than that of the congested mainland camps in Cox’s Bazar, he added that the UN may have some additional requirements.

“If they further put forward any other requirements for Rohingya on Bhasan Char island, the government will evaluate those as per provisions,” Hayat said.

Rohingya demand

Meanwhile, hundreds of Rohingya came out of their homes to demand livelihood opportunities during the UN team's visit to the island.

“We feel like we are in prison. We have been eating the same foods for a long time, and we are even restricted from fishing in the sea,” said a Rohingya, preferring anonymity.

He added that just a better house is not everything.

“It seems to me that I am in an island prison,” he stressed.

In late April, Human Rights Watch accused Bangladeshi security forces of torturing Rohingya refugees on the island, pressing the government to investigate the matter.

According to police sources, 29 Rohingya were detained after attempting to flee the island.

- Concerns over the beating of Rohingya on island

Meanwhile, the UNHCR in a statement issued Monday night expressed concerns over the injuring of Rohingya refugees on the island on the eve of the UN high officials’ visit.

Members of the Bangladeshi naval force allegedly used batons against Rohingya on Monday morning, leaving more than a dozen people injured, including women and children.

“We are deeply concerned to learn of reports of refugees who have been injured during today’s [Monday] events on the island. We regret that those affected reportedly include children and women,” said the statement.

Citing the safety and well-being of Rohingya as the “main priority” of the UN, the statement added: “We continue to urgently seek additional information on the condition of those affected and urge that they receive adequate medical assistance."

The statement, however, said that during Monday’s visit, the UNHCR delegation was able to meet with a large group of Rohingya refugees and to listen to the various issues they raised, which the delegation will further discuss with Bangladeshi authorities.

“The delegation has now arrived in Cox’s Bazar and is scheduled to visit the Rohingya refugee camps tomorrow, 1 June, before returning to Dhaka to meet with senior government officials,” it added./aa

GAZA CITY, Occupied Palestine

Only Alaa Abu Hatab and his four-year-old daughter Maria out of a seven-people family survived an "Israeli" bombing on their home in the blockaded Gaza Strip. 

At least 254 Palestinians were killed, including 66 children and 39 women, and more than 1,900 others injured in the "Israeli" onslaught on Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials. Health authorities in the West Bank confirmed 31 killed in the occupied region.

The house where the Abu Hatab family lived in northern Gaza was targeted on May 15, which coincided the third day of Eid al-Fitr, a Muslim holy festival.

The attack claimed lives of the mother, Yasemin Hassan, 30, her sons Yusuf, 11, Bilal, 9, Yamin, 6, and daughter Maryam, 8.

The same attack killed Maha from the Hadidi family and her sons Suhaib, 14, Yahya,11, Abdurrahman, 8, and Osama, 6, who were visiting Abu Hatab family to celebrate the Eid.

Omar, five-month-old son of the Hadidi family, and Maria, four-year-old daughter of the Ebu Hatab family, were rescued from the debris of the targeted house.

As in many parts of Gaza, the "Israeli" attack turned the lives of the Abu Hatab family upside down.

Now, the remaining are father Alaa and daughter Maria from the family of seven people. The two are trying to hold on to life by bonding with each other.

The experiences of Maria, who was left alone with her father at the very beginning of her life, is like a summary of the pain Israel inflicted on the Palestinians in Gaza.

The good memories of the Abu Hatab family were buried in the rubble of the flattened house.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Alaa stated that he himself and his two sisters have grown up as orphans since childhood.

Recalling the day of attack, Alaa said his sister Maha visited them with her five sons to celebrate the Eid.

He went on saying that the bombing took place while he was going out to buy bread.

"The explosion sound came from a nearby area and smoke billows were rising. We ran towards the area of attack and I found out that it was my home that was targeted. Our home collapsed while my wife and children, my sister and her children were inside. It was a great disaster for me, I had a nervous breakdown. I couldn't stand it and passed out. When I opened my eyes, I was in hospital," Alaa said.

He stated that the attack was carried out without any warning shots and that there was no one who warned them by phone earlier.

"They directly hit the house with six rockets and destroyed it over their [relatives] head. They had no way of getting rid of the shrapnel pieces, nor the concrete and iron piles. The shredded bodies were exhumed while all of them were missing limbs. Their limbs are still sticking out from under the rubble," he said.

Stating that he still does not understand why the attack in which ten people, including eight children and two women, lost their lives took place.

"I can't get over this terrible massacre. No human can do this. Really, those who committed this massacre cannot be human ... Why did they demolish the house on their heads? There were women and children in the house. I don't know what they did to the Jews … Did they fire rockets at the Jews? Did they shoot at them, what did they do to them? They were probably looking for these innocent civilians, so they hit the house."

Stating that his little daughter Maria was sleeping in her room at the time of the attack and that she was thrown from the window of their house to the stairs of the building next door in the explosion, the father said: "They found her on the stairs screaming. Her head was bleeding and she was calling her mother. My child was in a state of shock, covered in blood and dust."

Maria was in the middle of the explosion and experienced great pain, Alaa said, adding: "Those terrible explosions, debris, destruction, fear, black dust, smoke, flames, the burning fire all these were engraved in her memory.

Noting that Maria did not talk to many people after the attack and that she needed serious psychological support, Alaa said: "Maria sometimes asks 'where is my mother,' I say 'she went to heaven'."

Alaa became homeless and had nowhere to go as their house was destroyed and stayed at his friends' and sometimes at neighbors'.

He left Maria at her grandmother's house, said the Palestinian father.

Explaining that he is the child of a Palestinian refugee family who had to leave their home in the city of Ashkelon and settled in Gaza due to "Israeli" practices, Alaa said: "Me and my children's dream was to live in safety and peace ... They wanted to return to their land, their hometown Ashkelon."/aa

Turkey on Monday rescued 74 asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea after they were pushed back by the Greek coastal authorities into Turkish territorial waters, a security official said.

A total of 42 asylum seekers were rescued from rubber boats by the Turkish Coast Guard off the coast of Cesme district in western Izmir province, said the official on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.

Separately, 32 asylum seekers in a life boat, who were pushed back by Greek authorities, were brought ashore by the Turkish Coast Guard Command.

After routine checks, they were referred to the provincial migration authority.

Turkey has repeatedly condemned Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back asylum seekers, saying it violates humanitarian values and international law by endangering the lives of vulnerable migrants, including women and children.

Turkey has been a key transit point for asylum seekers aiming to cross into Europe to start new lives, especially those fleeing war and persecution./aa

The Council of Europe on Monday called upon Austria to withdraw the controversial “Islam map”.

Publication of the map is hostile to Muslims and potentially counterproductive, the top European human rights body said in a statement.

Countering extremism and ideologies that spread dangerous narratives under the guise of freedom of religion is an important national security task but the map serves “existing resentments” and many Muslims feel it as “extremely discriminatory,” the statement noted.

“They feel stigmatized and threatened in their security by the publication of addresses and other details.”

Last week, Austria’s Integration Ministry launched a website providing details of the country’s 620 mosques and Islamic associations, with the location, address and names of officials.

Minister Susanne Raab defended the publication, saying the objective was to fight the political ideologies and not religion. But local Muslim organizations have accused the government of stigmatizing the country’s roughly 800,000 Muslim population as a potential danger to the society and threatened to file a lawsuit against Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

After a major shooting attack last November by an Islamist extremist that killed four people in Vienna, Kurz vowed to criminalize “political Islam” through a legislation. The controversial anti-terror law later dropped the term “political Islam” with “religiously motivated extremism.”/aa