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Is Turkey Arming Jihadists?
Commentary Magazine
02.01.2013
Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971
Last week, I noted that Turkey may soon find itself on the Financial
Action Task Force's black list alongside Iran and North Korea because
of its failure to take action against terrorist financing. Adam Marx,
an avid reader of COMMENTARY and an informal student of Turkey, was
kind enough to point out that a new law on Turkey's books may not be
enough, given Turkey's recent trend not only to finance terrorists in
Libya, Syria, and elsewhere, but also to arm radical Islamists. If
everyone-Chuck Hagel and Obama's CIA pick John Brennan-agrees that
Hamas and Mohamed Morsi represent the worst, most bigoted aspects of
the Muslim Brotherhood, then there should no longer be any illusion
regarding Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ=9Fan, whose political roots are in the
same movement. Eric Trager's essay asking why so many Western analysts
got the Muslim Brotherhood wrong and addressing the myths which so
many still grasp is a must read. But while there is a reckoning with
regard to Egypt, ErdoÄ=9Fan and his Western supporters have gotten
away with murder.
Greece, for example, last month intercepted a Turkish ship that
apparently was part of an effort to arm either Libyan jihadists or,
even worse, transit weaponry to al-Qaeda affiliates in northern
Mali. Likewise, Yemeni authorities twice last month reportedly seized
Turkish arms bound for al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen. Syrian Kurds
regularly complain that Turkey is shipping weaponry to the al-Qaeda
elements in Syria like the Nusra Front, because ErdoÄ=9Fan would
rather have a radical Islamist entity on Turkey's border than a
secular Kurdish canton.
If there's one lesson which can be drawn from the past two decades, it
is that the strategy of various Middle Eastern states to support
Jihadism abroad while crushing terrorists at home backfires. Saudi
princes believed that they could fund al-Qaeda abroad, only to have
the group start attacking Saudis and foreign workers inside the
Kingdom. Bashar al-Assad also believed that he could use al-Qaeda to
undermine Iraq and perhaps Jordan, only to find himself fighting a
death struggle with the same al-Qaeda alumni inside Syria. If
ErdoÄ=9Fan continues down the path of promoting the Muslim Brotherhood
and even more radical groups abroad, he may very well set the stage
for a terrorist backlash in Turkey in coming years. The terrorists of
course will have primary blame for their actions but, when that
instability occurs, the Turks-and those who have supported
ErdoÄ=9Fan's religious agenda-will have no one to blame but themselves
for such a short-sighted strategy.
UPDATE: Since I wrote this originally, it seems that a suicide bomber
has attacked a side entrance to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara,
Turkey. Our thoughts are with the victims. Alas, this will not be the
last suicide bombing Turkey experiences.
UPDATE 2: The U.S. tipped off Turkey about the presence of bin Laden's
fugitive son-in-law not only in Turkey, but in a swank section of the
capital. Turkey has decided to extradite the fugitive to Iran, rather
than hand him over to U.S. authorities.
Commentary Magazine
02.01.2013
Michael Rubin | @mrubin1971
Last week, I noted that Turkey may soon find itself on the Financial
Action Task Force's black list alongside Iran and North Korea because
of its failure to take action against terrorist financing. Adam Marx,
an avid reader of COMMENTARY and an informal student of Turkey, was
kind enough to point out that a new law on Turkey's books may not be
enough, given Turkey's recent trend not only to finance terrorists in
Libya, Syria, and elsewhere, but also to arm radical Islamists. If
everyone-Chuck Hagel and Obama's CIA pick John Brennan-agrees that
Hamas and Mohamed Morsi represent the worst, most bigoted aspects of
the Muslim Brotherhood, then there should no longer be any illusion
regarding Recep Tayyip ErdoÄ=9Fan, whose political roots are in the
same movement. Eric Trager's essay asking why so many Western analysts
got the Muslim Brotherhood wrong and addressing the myths which so
many still grasp is a must read. But while there is a reckoning with
regard to Egypt, ErdoÄ=9Fan and his Western supporters have gotten
away with murder.
Greece, for example, last month intercepted a Turkish ship that
apparently was part of an effort to arm either Libyan jihadists or,
even worse, transit weaponry to al-Qaeda affiliates in northern
Mali. Likewise, Yemeni authorities twice last month reportedly seized
Turkish arms bound for al-Qaeda affiliates in Yemen. Syrian Kurds
regularly complain that Turkey is shipping weaponry to the al-Qaeda
elements in Syria like the Nusra Front, because ErdoÄ=9Fan would
rather have a radical Islamist entity on Turkey's border than a
secular Kurdish canton.
If there's one lesson which can be drawn from the past two decades, it
is that the strategy of various Middle Eastern states to support
Jihadism abroad while crushing terrorists at home backfires. Saudi
princes believed that they could fund al-Qaeda abroad, only to have
the group start attacking Saudis and foreign workers inside the
Kingdom. Bashar al-Assad also believed that he could use al-Qaeda to
undermine Iraq and perhaps Jordan, only to find himself fighting a
death struggle with the same al-Qaeda alumni inside Syria. If
ErdoÄ=9Fan continues down the path of promoting the Muslim Brotherhood
and even more radical groups abroad, he may very well set the stage
for a terrorist backlash in Turkey in coming years. The terrorists of
course will have primary blame for their actions but, when that
instability occurs, the Turks-and those who have supported
ErdoÄ=9Fan's religious agenda-will have no one to blame but themselves
for such a short-sighted strategy.
UPDATE: Since I wrote this originally, it seems that a suicide bomber
has attacked a side entrance to the U.S. Embassy in Ankara,
Turkey. Our thoughts are with the victims. Alas, this will not be the
last suicide bombing Turkey experiences.
UPDATE 2: The U.S. tipped off Turkey about the presence of bin Laden's
fugitive son-in-law not only in Turkey, but in a swank section of the
capital. Turkey has decided to extradite the fugitive to Iran, rather
than hand him over to U.S. authorities.