Erdoğan Regime Sends Wrong Signals about ISIL
By Abdullah Bozkurt
September 12, 2014
The regime of Turkey's chief political Islamist, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and its alleged links to extremist groups in Syria and Iraq, most specifically the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) -- also known as ISIS and the IS -- has been put under closer scrutiny now that US President Barack Obama has unveiled a plan of action to degrade the capabilities of this terrorist organization by enlisting the help of its allies and partners in NATO and the Middle East.
The extent, if any, to which the political Islamist government in Turkey has aided and abetted the blossoming of radical groups as part of an overall strategy to shore up opposition against the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria or to weaken the now-defunct Nouri al-Maliki government in Iraq is not known. What we do know is that Turkey has clearly emerged as the front-line battle state against vicious al-Qaeda-type terror groups, including ISIL, whose cells have been spreading across Turkish provinces like a cancer, waiting to knock out healthy tissues one by one.
Yet, neither Erdoğan nor Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu seems too concerned about this growing threat, which presents an immediate and clear danger for Turkey's national security. Not a single word about ISIL or al-Qaeda was mentioned in the official program of the 62nd government, which was recently formed under Davutoğlu's caretaker leadership despite the fact that ISIL kidnapped 46 Turkish citizens, including two babies and diplomats, from its Mosul consulate in Iraq almost three months ago.
Strangely enough, Erdoğan, Davutoğlu and other members of the Cabinet have all avoided criticizing ISIL directly. Meanwhile, they have not been afraid of bashing the US, the EU, Egypt and others in public speeches. The most serious condemnation of ISIL we have heard so far came from an awkward place. Forestry and Water Affairs Minister Veysel Eroğlu warned ISIL “not to test Turkey's patience” after the group threatened Turkey with cutting off the flow of the Euphrates River, which would effectively dry up northern Syria. “Turkey does not surrender to such threats,” he said, adding that “ISIL shouldn't bluff about threats.”
Directorate of Religious Affairs (DİB) head Mehmet Görmez has not issued a clear and strong message specifically against ISIL, nor has any other leading religious figure closely aligned with the Erdoğan regime. It is in fact Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar who has inspired a worldwide educational drive called the Hizmet movement, who has come out with the most unambiguous statement against ISIL, saying he deplores "the brutal atrocities" being committed by what he called a terrorist group hiding behind a false religious rhetoric.
When asked about the reluctance to speak about ISIL, the official response given is that Turkey has 46 hostages in the hands of the terrorist organization and therefore has to tread carefully in public discourse. The same reason was provided as an explanation for Turkey shying away from signing the communiqué issued against ISIL by the US and its Arab allies in Jeddah on Thursday.
Well, that is certainly a valid argument. But it has some holes in it. For one, the silence against ISIL was there even when there was no hostage crisis. Secondly, why was the same caution not exercised when Hezbollah kidnapped two Turkish pilots in Lebanon last year? Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ -- who was deputy prime minister at the time -- has directed harsh criticism at the Lebanese group due to its involvement, stating that Hezbollah is conducting a bloody campaign against innocent civilians to keep the Syrian regime alive and should thus change its name to Hezb al-Shaitan -- the Party of Satan. (Hezbollah means “the Party of God”). Turkey's leaders have also not held their tongues in response to years of its citizens being kidnapped by the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Instead, Erdoğan simply called on ISIL in July, in perhaps the first public remark after the hostage crisis, saying: "If they are true believers, they should release our brothers. That's what we expect." In August, Davutoğlu limited his criticism of ISIL, saying only that the group's militants are driven largely by anger. “Previous discontent, anger, discrimination and insults gave birth to a wide reaction on a big front,” he said, describing ISIL as a “structure.”
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) claimed that the interception in January of Syria-bound trucks that were owned by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and were allegedly carrying arms and munitions revealed a smoking gun on the Erdoğan regime's assistance to radical groups in Syria. The CHP made public the testimonies of security officers who documented the deadly cargo of the trucks. The fact that the Erdoğan regime abruptly removed prosecutors who investigated the trucks as well as the police and military officers who stopped the trucks certainly gave credence to the opposition's claims that Erdoğan wants to cover up the scandal. On top of that, the government hastily obtained a gag order from a friendly judge, preventing journalists from reporting on the details of the case.
Another signal that the Erdoğan regime is not serious about battling the al-Qaeda network in Turkey was seen in January, when a prosecutor in Van ordered raids on al-Qaeda cells in six provinces across Turkey. Two senior al-Qaeda operatives -- İbrahim Şen, who is allegedly a top al-Qaeda leader in the Middle East, and Halis Bayancuk, who is said to be in charge of the al-Qaeda network in Turkey -- were among the people detained in the operation. Şen was detained and taken to Guantanamo Bay by US authorities in 2006 and was handed over to Turkish officials in 2008. An employee of the government-backed charity group Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH) was also among those detained.
Right after the raids, the government sacked Devlet Çıngı, the head of the Kilis Police Department's Counterterrorism Unit, and reassigned him to a post in the juvenile delinquency unit. The government-orchestrated reshuffle also removed the prosecutor in Van who ordered the raids and the judge who signed off on warrants, as well as the police chiefs who worked on the al-Qaeda file. If that were not enough, all the counterterrorism and intelligence units of the police department were reshuffled in a move that many security experts says wiped out all the experience accumulated by police over the years. The police had been conducting sweeps on al-Qaeda cells on regular intervals in Turkey to put a lid on extremist activity and been tracking them very closely. That is no longer possible now that the whole police department has been turned upside down by a witch hunt pursued by the political Islamist government.
When asked about ISIL, Davutoğlu also refers to the Cabinet decision of Sept. 30, 2013 that listed al-Qaeda in Iraq (a former name of ISIL) as a terrorist organization upon the suggestion of the Finance Ministry. The decision was inevitable because the Turkish government had to comply with the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolutions numbered 1267, 1988 and 1989. Turkey has to follow whatever the list the UNSC's sanctions committees convey to Turkey as per the UN Charter. Hence the publication of the Cabinet decision in the Official Gazette on Oct. 10, 2013.
However, considering that Saudi businessman Yasin al-Qadi -- who was listed as an al-Qaeda terror financier by the UNSC's sanctions committees until he was taken off the list at the end of 2012 -- had been freely traveling to Turkey under the alleged protection of Erdoğan, there is not much confidence behind the Turkish government's decision on paper. According to the police investigation, al-Qadi was escorted through the VIP area at the airport by Erdoğan's protective detail and allowed to enter the country on a fake passport. Al-Qadi and Erdoğan met approximately a dozen times. Half of those visits happened while al-Qadi was still on the UNSC's list of names barred from travel. Erdoğan was accused by the prosecutors of breaking Turkish laws, including the Cabinet's decision on al-Qadi.
Who can be sure that the same double game has not been played out with ISIL members as well after this scandalous revelation? In fact, just this week, the independent Taraf daily published two reports on ISIL indicating links between ISIL and Turkey. The first report stated that ISIL militants fighting against Kurdish forces in Iraq have been using ammunition marked as coming from the state-owned Turkish Mechanical and Chemical Industry Corporation (MKE). The second report claimed that eight militants from ISIL, including ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's right-hand man, “Ahmad al-H.,” were brought to a hospital in the southern Turkish city of Şanlıurfa for treatment in August. The report alleged that the cost was picked up by the Turkish government. There has been an abundance of reports in official and non-official resources about foreign fighters entering Syria from Turkey, from which they also smuggle weapons, obtain financing and other supplies and seek medical treatment.
When one adds all of this together, one cannot help but doubt Turkey's commitment to fighting radical groups under the Erdoğan regime and Davutoğlu's caretaker government. That is a pity because Turkey is in the front line in this fight and remains the most vulnerable NATO member in the face of such groups, including ISIL. Instead of complaining about national and global media's alleged portrayals of Turkey as a sponsor of terrorism and blaming critics who warn the government about the possible risks of spillover, Turkish leaders should get their act together and put all their effort into channeling state resources in this fight against radicalism, which has started to attract Turkish youths in the thousands.
Source: http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist/abdullah-bozkurt/erdogan-regime-sends-wrong-signals-about-isil_358534.html
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-terrorism-jihad/erdogan-regime-sends-wrong-signals/d/99080