• About
  • Contact
  • News Tips
Saturday, March 6, 2021
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
Home EditorsPick

Locals uneasy over Turkish Foreign Ministry office in province on Syrian border

by Nordic Monitor
November 11, 2019
Locals uneasy over Turkish Foreign Ministry office in province on Syrian border

Turkish Foreign Ministry's representation office in Hatay was officially inaugurated by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in June 2019.

Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare On TelegramShare On Whatsapp

Nordic Monitor

  

Activities of a Turkish Foreign Ministry representation office in the Turkish city of Antakya in southern Hatay province, situated near the area in Syria where the leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) was killed last month, have drawn criticism from locals over the office’s alleged links to jihadist groups, a senior opposition lawmaker in the Turkish parliament claimed.

Mehmet Güzelmansur, deputy for the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) from Hatay, revealed the reaction of residents to the presence of the Turkish foreign office in the city during a meeting of parliament’s Foreign Affairs Commission on October 23, 2019. Güzelmansur asked Deputy Foreign Minister Yavuz Selim Kıran, who also attended the commission meeting, the reason behind the ministry’s decision to set up an office in Hatay.

Ambassador Serdar Cengiz was assigned as head of the representation office in Antakya in May 2019, and the premises were officially inaugurated by Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in June. The office is considered by the local population to be a mission contributing to Turkey’s relations with rebel groups including jihadist militants. Hosting the regional headquarters of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hatay is where clandestine intelligence operations were planned and executed in Syria.

 

Mehmet Güzelmansur seen addressing in a town hall in Hatay.

 

Hatay is one of Turkey’s most ethnically diverse provinces, counting Arabs, Turkmen, Turks, Alawites, Christians and Kurds among its population. More than a third of its residents are of Arab Alawite descent. It has long had a reputation for being the country’s most tolerant region. In recent years, hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria have also made it home since many of the Alawite and Sunni families living there are directly related to Syrian families. However, the Turkish government’s Syria policy, which has actively supported opposition groups against the Assad al-Bashar government since 2011, invited divisions and sectarian blowback closer to the region.

Hatay borders the Syrian governorates of Latakia and Idlib and has become an important location for Turkish-backed rebel groups. According to some experts, jihadist groups have enjoyed a safe haven in Hatay for medical care and the strategic planning. The US recently conducted a military operation that ended the life of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The compound where al-Baghdadi died was located in the small northwestern Syrian village of Barisha, some five kilometers (three miles) from the village of Kavalcik in Hatay province. The killing of al-Baghdadi shed light once again on the activities of jihadist groups in the region.

In his speech before the commission Güzelmansur underlined the growing uneasiness of local residents with the activities of Turkish diplomats in Hatay, saying the public view diverges from the official narrative behind opening the Foreign Ministry representation office. Güzelmansur urged Deputy Foreign Minister Kıran to clarify if “the office was established for another purpose [referring to the Foreign Ministry office’s links to jihadist groups].”

According to Kiran, Turkish diplomats who serve in Hatay are expected to report on the latest developments in Syria, and the office provides the ministry an opportunity to reach out directly to “Syrian representatives.”

 

 

Hatay Governor Rahmi Dogan (L) and Turkish Ambassador Serdar Cengiz, who heads the representation office in Hatay.

 

Nordic Monitor previously reported how Hatay was used as a transit point by Turkish intelligence for illegal arms transfers to jihadist groups in Syria under a scheme that was not authorized and in which weapons were secretly transported in trucks. A truck full of heavy arms was intercepted by security forces on January 1, 2014 near the Turkish village of Torun on the highway between the towns of Kırıkhan and Reyhanlı in Hatay. According to judicial documents, public prosecutors were prevented from executing a warrant by MIT agents who were accompanying the truck. Yener Akbaydar, then-regional head of MIT in Hatay, was also involved in the case.

Furthermore, the Turkish military set up the Operations Coordination Center (HKM) in February 2016 for the training of rebels in Yayladağı, a town in Hatay province. One hundred seventeen militia members were trained at the HKM in asymmetrical warfare, sabotage, infiltration, improvised explosive devices, explosives and guerrilla tactics, Nordic Monitor revealed in June 2019.

Hatay has also been transformed into a transit point where Turkish soldiers, military equipment and armored vehicles cross into Idlib in Syria. Turkey and Russia reached an agreement in Sochi in September 2018 according to which Turkey should have prevented terrorist groups from conducting attacks on Syrian soil. However, Idlib has been taken over by militants of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the latest incarnation of the al-Nusra Front, in the months since the agreement was signed.

Previous Post

Mandela’s party under fire as it moves closer to Erdoğan’s Islamist gov’t

Next Post

Russia might have planned to bomb Erdoğan’s palace after Turkey downed SU-24 warplane

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor

[email protected]

Next Post
Russia might have planned to bomb Erdoğan’s palace after Turkey downed SU-24 warplane

Russia might have planned to bomb Erdoğan’s palace after Turkey downed SU-24 warplane

Please login to join discussion
Donate

Follow Us

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
IRGC Quds Force set up a shop in Turkey’s capital to recruit militants including al-Qaeda aspirants

IRGC Quds Force set up a shop in Turkey’s capital to recruit militants including al-Qaeda aspirants

January 13, 2021
Turkish judge on Europe’s top human rights court acts as Erdoğan’s Trojan horse

Turkish judge on Europe’s top human rights court acts as Erdoğan’s Trojan horse

January 16, 2021
Turkey’s top security official suspected of being a drug kingpin

Turkey’s top security official suspected of being a drug kingpin

January 21, 2021
Pakistan violated UN rules, handed Turkey secret information about Turks under UNHCR protection

Pakistan violated UN rules, handed Turkey secret information about Turks under UNHCR protection

February 6, 2021
Turkey has a plan for the invasion of Greece, secret documents reveal

Turkey has a plan for the invasion of Greece, secret documents reveal

82
Turkish intelligence agent who runs secret ops in Libya executed false flag coup bid in 2016

Turkish intelligence agent who runs secret ops in Libya executed false flag coup bid in 2016

22
Turkish intelligence operations in Greece exposed in secret documents

Turkish intelligence operations in Greece exposed in secret documents

17
Turkish spy agency MIT involved in intelligence gathering in Australia, targeting gov’t critics

More secret documents confirming vast Turkish espionage activities in Greece uncovered

15
Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

March 6, 2021
Turkish intelligence agency’s corporate arm operates spy planes and chopper

Turkish intelligence fixed a warrant to whisk away female activist from Pakistan in a secret plot

March 5, 2021
Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

March 4, 2021
Turkey planned military action against Armenia

Turkish intelligence coordinated the scramble of F-16 fighters during coup attempt

March 3, 2021

Recommended

Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

March 6, 2021
Turkish intelligence agency’s corporate arm operates spy planes and chopper

Turkish intelligence fixed a warrant to whisk away female activist from Pakistan in a secret plot

March 5, 2021
Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

March 4, 2021
Turkey planned military action against Armenia

Turkish intelligence coordinated the scramble of F-16 fighters during coup attempt

March 3, 2021

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

Abdullah Bozkurt al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov Azerbaijan China coup Cyprus Diyanet Doğu Perinçek Egypt espionage European Union Fethullah Gulen Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hulusi Akar IHH Iran ISIL ISIS Israel Libya Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO Press Freedom Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT Saudi Arabia Selected Article 1 Selected Article 2 Selected Article 3 spying Syria The United States Torture Turkey United States Yasin al-Qadi

Recent News

Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

Turkish firm that violated UN arms sanctions on Libya got a facelift after exposé

March 6, 2021
Turkish intelligence agency’s corporate arm operates spy planes and chopper

Turkish intelligence fixed a warrant to whisk away female activist from Pakistan in a secret plot

March 5, 2021
Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

Turkey fails to present evidence to convince Thailand in extradition of Erdoğan critic

March 4, 2021

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.