"Our group, ITT [a contrived acronym meaning 'here' and standing for 'Society for Revealing the Indivisibility of Islam and Terrorism] is an organisation of friends whose aim is to examine the links between passages in the Koran that advocate terrorism and the world view of Muslims," says ITT's blog.
The group claims to number prominent Hungarian experts on religion, public figures, sportsman, and well-known media personalities among its ranks. This claim can only be accepted with serious reservations, since the group - citing safety concerns - is anonymous. Not one member divulges his or her name. Their website is on a a free American server, and we believe that the site's editor is careful to conceal the location from which he accesses the internet. And because of this anonymity, it's impossible to be sure that ITT isn't some kind of joke - a media hack.
ITT's supposed 'experts' say that the Koran is a harmful handbook for criminals and that Islam and terrorism go hand in hand. On their site they say that not all terrorists are Muslims, but that all Muslims are potential terrorists. They oppose the construction of mosques in Hungary, saying that "reversion" to Islam strengthens radicalism.
Zoltán Bolek, president of the Hungarian Islamic Community says: "We are outraged, and we condemn ITT's actions, whether it is meant as a joke or not." Hungarian Muslims have been picked on for years, they say, even though the community has good relations with both Christian and Jewish communities.
Abdul Fattah Munif, an expert on Islam studying for a PhD at the Arabic Department of Budapest's ELTE university says that this is not the first time that anonymous groups have propagated hate against Muslims in Hungary.
In an e-mail, Kornél Vajai, the leader of the group, told HVG.hu that he did not see why quoting the Koran should be hurtful to Muslims, and he insisted that he had the right to express opposition to Islam, "in the name of our civilisation."