Turkish televangelist given security detail over ISIL threat

ISTANBUL

The Turkish state has appointed a security detail to protect a popular televangelist, after he was threatened by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“If I am on God’s list, I would die anyway. If I am not on that list, then ISIL cannot intervene [to kill me],” Ahmet Mahmut Ünlü said in reaction to the decision, according to Turkish news website İnternethaber.

Ünlü, popularly known as “Cübbeli” (Robed) Hodja, who has a popular and humorous style, has strongly criticized ISIL since last year. In recent TV programs and televised sermons, he has said “ISIL militants are not Muslims but barbarians,” calling on young people in Turkey not to join the militants’ “pseudo-jihad” in Iraq and Syria.

Following the latest decision, an undisclosed number of policemen have joined the security detail of Ünlü, who was already being protected by several private bodyguards.