Erdogan’s Radical Islamist Future for Turkey
Yesterday, Erick Stakelbeck , host of CBN’s On Terrorism published online an interview with our colleague from the Middle East Roundtable series, Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Vice President for Research at the Washington, DC-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD). Stakelbeck is the author of Muslim Brotherhood: America’s Next Great Enemy; Schanzer, The State of Failure: Yasser Arafat, Mahmoud Abbas and the Unmaking of the Palestinian State. The topic was Turkish Premier Erdogan’s Radical Agenda for an Islamist Turkey with Muslim Brotherhood allies Qatar and Hamas in Gaza.
We have written extensively on the roiling scandals that plagued Erdogan during his recent campaigning for municipal elections. AKP victories in a number of municipal races on March 30th have fueled his ambitions to seek the Presidency in June. That assumes a basic constitutional law change is passed by the Ankara parliament where his AK party holds a super majority. That change would transform the Turkish Presidency into a US or French Executive with broad powers. If elected that would extend Erdogan’s tenure as Turkey’s government leader by possibly a decade beyond his 11 years as Premier. That might allow him, if the opposition continues fragmented, to perfect a Sunni neo-Ottoman Caliphate. It could further embroil Turkey in a rancorous dispute with a former ally, ex-pat Sufi Sheik Mohamed Fethulleh Gulen in Pennsylvania. This might result in the AK Party vanquishing the Gulen Hizmat movement becoming the dominant Sunni Islamist government in the Middle East. That might present significant geo-political problems for the US as Turkey, a NATO member since 1952, maintains the alliance’s largest armed force.
What Stakelbeck’s conversation with Schanzer focuses on it’s the record of Erdogan’s radical makeover of Turkey. Especially its involvement in financing terrorism in Gaza and, adjacent Syria. That has been facilitated through personal family relations with shadowy Saudi Al Qaeda terror financier Yassin al-Qadi. Erdogan has provided a safe haven for Hamas operatives and transit points along the Syrian frontier for Islamist opponents of the Assad Regime. It also assisted Iran’s evasion of US and EU sanctions through a multi-billion dollar illicit gold for gas scheme that some believe assisted in financing Iran’s nuclear development and ballistic missile programs. Erdogan has actively threatened Israel, most notably in the Mavi Marmara incident with Israeli Naval commandos during the Free Gaza Flotilla in May 2010.
Here are excerpts from the CBN interview, “Downward Spiral: Erdogan’s Radical Makeover of Turkey”:
“You have to remember that the AKP — the Justice and Development Party in Turkey — is a spinoff of the Muslim Brotherhood,” explained Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “This is an organization that is founded on Islamist principles.”
“Mr. Erdogan sees himself as an Islamist and a Turk first and foremost,” he told CBN News. “And so he’s synthesizing Turkish nationalism with the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Erdogan and Hamas
Schanzer recently wrote an extensive report for FDD outlining Turkey’s role in financing terrorism.
Although designated a terror organization by the United States, Hamas leaders regularly meet with Erdogan.
Schanzer says that includes top Hamas operative Saleh al-Aruri, who enjoys safe haven in Turkey.
“He’s a military operative and he’s based in Ankara,” said Schanzer. “And he’s met with Erdogan. He’s met with [Hamas leader Khaled] Meshaal. And he continues apparently to be involved in fundraising and logistics on the part of Hamas.”
And Hamas isn’t the only questionable friend of Erdogan’s Turkey.
According to Schanzer, al Qaeda financier Yasin al-Qadi, a designated global terrorist, has visited often.
“We’re seeing reports that [al-Qadi] has been meeting with senior Turkish businessmen, Turkish officials,” he said. “That he has been traveling in and out of Turkey without a visa and without a passport.”
A Hub for Jihad
Turkey has also become a key support hub and transit point for global jihadists traveling to neighboring Syria to battle the Assad regime.
“There are now multiple cities along the southeastern border of Turkey that appear to be safe havens for various jihadi groups,” Schanzer told CBN News.
“We understand that there are Gulf financiers who are operating there out of hotels, dispersing cash to some of these jihadis as they travel through.”
“We have seen multiple visits by Undersecretary of the Treasury [David S.] Cohen to Turkey,” said Schanzer. “You don’t visit Turkey if you’re the undersecretary of treasury for terrorism finance unless there’s a problem.”
Strained US Ties
President Barack Obama has enjoyed a close relationship with Erdogan.
Yet the Turkish prime minister’s radical turn has led bipartisan members of Congress and foreign policy experts to demand the White House hold Erdogan accountable for his anti-democratic actions.
“We’ve got early warning radar systems in Turkey, we’ve got Patriot missile batteries, we’ve got massive air bases, we’ve got investments,” said Schanzer. “And look, more broadly, the Turks have served as an important ally for us. If we lose that, I think it would be very detrimental to American foreign policy.”
Watch the CBN video of Stakelbeck interview with Schanzer:
EDITORS NOTE: This column originally appeared on The New English Review.
