Ankara supports terrorism: Turkey provides safe havens for ISIS, its judiciary colludes with ISIS criminals
The details surrounding the killing
of Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Qurashi, the late leader of ISIS in Syria,
revealed evidence of Turkey's involvement and complicity in harboring Qurashi,
as the targeted house was located a few hundred meters from a
Turkish-controlled checkpoint inside Syria and in a village located only a
kilometer from the Turkish border. Turkey also has about 10 military
observation posts in the area, which are controlled by the armed factions
backed by Ankara, as the war-torn country was divided into areas of
international influence, and therefore Idlib has long been under Turkish
influence.
Supporting
terrorism
This comes in line with the Turkish
positions that support terrorism, as it has been the main sponsor of ISIS since
declaring its control over a number of Syrian and Iraqi cities, and the Turkish
Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) support for ISIS and raising the
organization’s flags in the streets of Istanbul and Ankara, as well as the
movement of the leaders of the terrorist organization from Syria to Turkey and
vice versa without any restrictions on the movements of terrorists.
Complicity of
Turkish judiciary
In an indication that the Turkish
judiciary is working in favor of terrorist organizations, the Turkish Supreme
Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of Begzad Spahic, a Bosnian jihadist
who had been convicted of joining ISIS in Syria and Iraq and was arrested on
June 28, 2017, in possession of a backpack containing an explosive vest that
contained three kilograms of explosives and three Russian-made hand grenades.
But the Turkish Public Prosecutor decided to drop the explosive charge, even
though the accused pleaded guilty before he was recently released.
The investigations conducted by the
United Nations into the anchoring of a Turkish ship near the stronghold of the
terrorist Al-Shabaab movement in Somalia is irrefutable evidence of the Turkish
regime’s involvement in terrorist crimes. The UN Panel of Experts on Somalia
announced that it was monitoring illegal weapons and that it was looking at a
Turkish ship anchored off the part of the Somali coast controlled by Al-Shabaab
in August 2021.
The Turkish ship, which is owned and
operated by Istanbul-based Mavi Deniz Tasimi Ticaret Ltd., has been stationary
for 24 hours less than a kilometer from the Somali coast in an area controlled
by Al-Shabaab and not being patrolled by Somali security forces, raising
suspicions about why the ship stayed so close to Al-Shabaab and whether it was
transporting supplies or weapons to terrorist elements, especially in light of
the silence of the Turkish government.
Safe havens
A recent UN report also confirmed
that al-Qaeda and ISIS enjoy a safe haven in Idlib, which is under Turkish
control, and that they continue to operate in this region.
The report stated that Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham (HTS) remains the dominant terrorist group in northwestern Syria and
controls Idlib.
According to the report, which was
submitted to the UN Security Council on February 3 by experts in charge of the
UN Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, HTS, formerly known as
Jabhat al-Nusra, has up to 15,000 fighters and generates revenue mainly through
taxes in the area.
The report indicated that some of
the humanitarian aid sent to Idlib has been transferred to HTS and that the
terrorists are trying to return to their homelands via Turkey. It also shed
light on the case of Yassine Lachiri, a Belgian ISIS terrorist who was arrested
in Bulgaria in November 2021 after arriving from Turkey.
Lachiri is the aide of Abdelhamid
Abaaoud, the mastermind of the 2015 Paris attacks. The mystery remains over how
Lachiri was able to enter Bulgaria despite the fact that he was sentenced to
prison in Turkey.
It is noteworthy that accusations
are chasing Turkey that it has become a center for forging passports for ISIS
militants to ensure that they travel around the world without hindrance.
