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Al-Qaeda: Its Ideology and Organizational Evolution A AL-QAEDA: ITS IDEOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL EVOLUTION A THESIS SUBMITTED TO GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY BURAK GÜNHAN AYDINER IN PARTIAL FULLFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCES IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS JUNE 2018 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Tülin Gençöz Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Özlem Tür Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ali Serdar Erdurmaz (Hasan Kalyoncu University, PSIR) Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı (METU, IR) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tuba Ünlü Bilgiç (METU, IR) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Burak Günhan Aydıner Signature : iii ABSTRACT AL-QAEDA: ITS IDEOLOGY AND ORGANIZATIONAL EVOLUTION Aydıner, Burak Günhan Department of International Relations Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı June 2018, 173 pages This thesis analyses al-Qaeda phenomenon in terms of its ideology and organizational evolution. Firstly, ‘true believer perspective’ and ‘rational actor perspective’ will be applied as a theoretical framework to be able to explain al-Qaeda’s ideological character and success of its organizational evolution. Secondly, al-Qaeda’s ideology, i.e. al-Qaedaism, will be analyzed in terms of its key terms and ideologues. Lastly, I will try to answer the question how al-Qaeda has evolved since its foundation by focusing its breaking points in its organizational evolution and what kinds of strategies al-Qaeda formulated each time when it faced a crisis particularly. The thesis argues that while al-Qaeda transforms itself to an ideology, which enables it to inspire many Muslims around the world and make it harder to deal with the organization, it shows the ability to overcome crisis by making the necessary changes in its organizational structure at the same time. KeyWords: Al-Qaeda, Al-Qaedaism, Organizational Evolution, True Believer Perspective, Rational Actor Perspective. iv ÖZ EL-KAİDE: İDEOLOJİSİ VE ÖRGÜTSEL GELİŞİMİ Aydıner, Burak Günhan Uluslararası İlişkiler Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı Haziran 2018, 173 sayfa Bu tez, ideolojisi ve örgütsel gelişimi açılarından El-Kaide fenomenini açıklamaktadır. İlk olarak, El-Kaide’nin ideolojik karakterini ve örgütsel gelişimindeki başarısını açıklayabilmek için, teorik altyapı olarak ‘gerçek inanan perspektifi’ ile ‘akılcı aktör perspektifi’ kullanılacaktır. İkinci olarak, El-Kaide’nin ideolojisi olan El-Kaideism, önemli kavramları ve ideologları açısından analiz edilecektir. Son olarak, özellikle örgütsel gelişimindeki kırılma noktalarına ve kriz ile karşılaştığı her anda, ne tür stratejiler ürettiğine odaklanarak, kuruluşundan itibaren El-Kaide’nin nasıl evrim geçirdiği sorusu cevaplanmaya çalışılacaktır. Bu tez, El-Kaide’nin, kendisini, birçok müslümanı teşvik etmesini sağlayan ve kendisi ile mücadeleyi daha da zorlaştıran bir ideolojiye dönüştürürken; aynı zamanda örgütsel yapısında gereken değişiklikleri yaparak krizlerin üstesinden gelme yeteneğini gösterdiğini ifade etmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: El-Kaide, El-Kaideism, Örgütsel Gelişim, Gerçek İnanan Perspektifi, Akılcı Aktör Perspektifi. v To My Parents, vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Bağcı for his advice, guidance, and criticism about the thesis. I would like to thank my thesis committee members for their advices and kind help. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my parents for their support and patience while I was writing the thesis. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM........................................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... iv ÖZ........................................................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ...................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ vii TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................... …. x CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 1 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................ 3 2.1 True Believer Perspective……...……………………………………………..4 2.2 Rational Actor Perspective .............................................................................. 8 3. AL-QAEDAISM ................................................................................................... ..15 3.1 Key Terms ..................................................................................................... 16 3.1.1.Jihadism ................................................................................................ 16 3.1.2.Hijra ...................................................................................................... 21 3.1.3.Salafism ................................................................................................ 22 3.1.3.1. Purists…………………………………………………………....... .25 3.1.3.2. Politicos ............................................................................................ 27 3.1.3.3. Jihadis ............................................................................................... 29 3.2 Takfirism ....................................................................................................... 31 3.3 Ideologues...................................................................................................... 36 3.3.1. Taqi ud-Deen Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah (1263-1328) ............................ 36 3.3.2. Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) .................................................................... 39 3.3.3. Muhammad Abd al-Salam Farag (1954-1982) .................................... 46 3.4. Violence ......................................................................................................... 48 3.5. Suicide Terrorism ........................................................................................... 50 3.6. Anti-Shiism, Anti-Americanism, and Anti-Semitism ..................................... 52 4. ORGANIZATIONAL EVOLUTION OF AL-QAEDA ......................................... 55 viii 4.1. 1986-1991 ....................................................................................................... 55 4.2. 1992-1996 ....................................................................................................... 66 4.3. 1996-2001 ....................................................................................................... 76 4.4. The Post-9/11 Period....................................................................................... 92 4.5. The Post-Arab Uprisings Period ................................................................... 116 5. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 140 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 143 APPENDICES A. TURKISH SUMMARY/TÜRKÇE ÖZET……………………………………….. 160 B. TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU………………………………………………. 173 ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AQIM AL-QAEDA IN ISLAMIC MAGHREB AQ-I AL-QAEDA IN IRAQ AQAP AL-QAEDA IN THE ARABIAN PENINSULA CIA CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY GIA ISLAMIC ARMED GROUP GSPC SALAFIST GROUP FOR PREACHING AND COMBAT IS ISLAMIC STATE ISI ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ ISIL ISLAMIC STATE OF IRAQ AND THE LEVANT NIF NATIONAL ISLAMIC FRONT UN UNITED NATIONS x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Al-Qaeda is a terrorist organization which was established by Osama Bin Laden. Its ideological origins can be found in the radical Sunni interpretation of Islam which is called as Salafism. Its main long term objective is to found the caliphate and the violent jihad is the only instrument in this way according to al-Qaeda. However, there are many terrorist organizations which had the similar ideological origins such as Gamaa Islamiya and Islamic Jihad operating in Egypt and Armed Islamic Group operating in Algeria. What distinguishes al-Qaeda from the rest of terrorist organizations is that it is a truly transnational terrorist organization which both has the ability to operate in various parts of the world through its affiliates and networks and attract the young Muslims from all over the world through its inspirational role. It is accepted widely that the year 1998 is the year of al-Qaeda’s establishment as an organized and hierarchical organization although the roots of the organization dated back to Afghan
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