The father of two men accused of plotting a terror attack has been revealed as an outspoken Turkish-born Muslim who previously called for Sharia law to be imposed.
Armagan Eriklioglu, the father of accused terror plotters Ertunc and Samed Eriklioglu, allegedly posted several incendiary messages on social media in 2014.
Among the series of Turkish-language messages were comments that allegedly promoted global conflict between Islam and the West, The Australian reported.
Mr Eriklioglu (pictured centre) recently came to the defence of his sons, Samed (pictured left) and Ertunc (pictured right), and denied a family happy snap showing himself and his son displaying a distinctive one-fingered hand gesture was the salute of ISIS
‘As long as Muslims continue fighting each other, obituaries and sorrowful songs will be in Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic and joyful songs will be in English and Hebrew,’ one Facebook message allegedly stated.
The father posted several photos at the peak of the Syrian conflict – one of which allegedly urged Muslims to go against any law that challenged the Muslim faith.
‘We will obey whatever religion of Islam says, even if it is a crime,’ the accompanying caption in the Facebook message stated.
Another image allegedly showed a crusader with a US, NATO and UN symbols, along with the words ‘Stupid Muslims, keep on sleeping’.
Mr Eriklioglu purportedly posted a Facebook message that was directed towards President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey about his stance on Sharia law.
‘The time you stop, waste is a bad deed, we demand that you bring sharia,’ he allegedly wrote at the time.
Ertunc Eriklioglu (pictured centre) is accused of plotting a terror attack in Melbourne along with his brother Samed
Deakin University professor Ihsan Yilmaz, who has been researching the radicalisation of Turkish diaspora in Western nations’ said Mr Eriklioglu’s comments suggest a ‘deep immersion in Turkish politics’.
Mr Yilmaz said there is a potentially dangerous new development emerging as the Erdogan government abandons secularism in favour of a forced Islamist stance.
He said Mr Eriklioglu has repeatedly wrote about how Mr Erdogan – who has been accused of passively supporting Islamic State fighters – should lead the world.
Mr Yilmaz said Mr Eriklioglu has repeatedly wrote about how President Erdogan – who has been accused of passively supporting Islamic State fighters – should lead the world
One of Mr Eriklioglu’s Facebook posts allegedly also included a link to a Turkish-language ISIS propganda page.
News of the incendiary messages comes after Mr Eriklioglu came to the defence of his sons and denied a family happy snap showing himself and his son displaying a distinctive one-fingered hand gesture was an ISIS salute.
Mr Eriklioglu said the gesture was commonly used by Muslims long before it was hijacked by the terrorist organisation.
‘No no. That’s not an ISIS salute. It means one creator. Everyone does that. We don’t know anything about a ISIS salute. Nothing at all. Not us. No way,’ he said.
‘All we know is from hadith, prophet Muhammad done that 1 finger,’ he later clarified via text.
‘You can read hadiths about it. So ISIS has been around few years. That flag finger don’t belong to those idiots. We have been around more than 1440 years. Whoever made ISIS, they’re showing Islam bad.’
The gesture was widely adopted by the Islamic militants as a propganda symbol for their cause.
The photo was among a bundle of family happy snaps provided to Daily Mail Australia by Mr Eriklioglu during a visit to his Campbellfield home on Wednesday.
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