Levent Kenez/Stockholm
The head of a Turkish intelligence-linked charity managed by jihadists has claimed that volunteers from various countries have reportedly gone to fight alongside Israel, declaring that his organization will not remain silent on this matter. He also threatened to start their own volunteer soldier movement against Israel in response amid the war caused by Hamas’s large-scale, surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
Bülent Yıldırım, president of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İHH), a key player in President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s international political agenda, held a press conference at the foundation’s headquarters to address the recent developments in Israel and call for the opening of a humanitarian aid corridor to Gaza.
In response to recent events in the Middle East, Yıldırım stated that the Palestinian territories have been under occupation for 75 years and questioned the presence of Israel in the region. He emphasized that Hamas is not the terrorist organization in the area, but rather that, Israel, which he described as an illegitimate creation of the Western world, is. Yıldırım also directed a message to Israel’s supporters, asserting that every Palestinian issue serves as a litmus test, with the words spoken during such times being remembered by the oppressed. He highlighted the enduring struggle of the Palestinians, who have been fighting for their right to self-defense for 75 years, and noted that many were aware of Israel’s preparations for war and its long-standing plan to displace those living in Gaza, a strategy the Palestinians thwarted with early action, leaving Israel in a state of shock.
Speaking to the global community, Yıldırım urged people across Europe and America to unite and take to the streets in a collective response against these “imperialist oppressors.” He expressed outrage over reports of individuals traveling from countries such as Argentina and Peru to volunteer as soldiers on the side of Israel.
“Know your place; if we initiate a volunteer soldier movement in response, we can drown you in a single spit. Do you think we will remain silent when women and children are being killed?” he added.
The İHH, accused of facilitating the transfer of jihadist fighters to conflict zones in various parts of the world in the past, was also one of the actors in a serious incident that strained relations between Turkey and Israel.
In 2010 the Mavi Marmara flotilla, organized by the IHH with the aim of delivering aid to Gaza, was intercepted by the Israeli navy, resulting in the death of nine Turkish and one Turkish-American pro-Palestinian activists. This incident not only led to a diplomatic crisis but was also extensively exploited by then-prime minister Erdogan as a prominent political tool during domestic rallies.
In response to the incident, in 2011 Prime Minister Erdogan made a significant announcement, suspending trade and military relations with Israel. However, it later came to light that the Safran 1, a vessel owned by Erdogan’s elder son, Burak, had been engaged in transporting goods between Turkish and Israeli ports on multiple occasions.
Fast forward to 2014, Erdogan engaged in a public dispute with Fethullah Gülen, a vocal critic who had suggested that the aid mission to Gaza could have been carried out peacefully with prior consent from the authorities. Erdogan challenged Gülen’s stance, asking, “Who are the authorities? If we are the authority, then we already gave permission…”
Ironically, in 2016 Erdogan contradicted his earlier argument, criticizing the organizers of the Mavi Marmara flotilla, saying, “Did you seek the then-prime minister’s permission to organize that aid campaign?”
The İHH is a front charity and tool of Turkish intelligence agency MİT and has been under investigation by the Turkish police. It was accused not only of smuggling arms to al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadists in Syria but also of involvement in the transport of wounded Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaeda fighters by ambulance from Syria to Turkey.
The Erdogan government helped save the İHH from legal troubles in Turkey while mobilizing resources and diplomatic clout to back the İHH in global operations.
Nordic Monitor previously released a Turkish police intelligence report explaining how the jihadist Libyan Ben Ali group was conducting illegal activities with the help of İHH Vice President Hüseyin Oruç and its then-South and East Anatolian coordinator Selahattin Ozer. According to the report the Ben Ali group moved between Turkey and Syria to provide logistical support, purchase arms and transport wounded fighters for al‐Qaeda‐affiliated terrorist organizations in Syria.
The Turkish police also investigated the İHH’s links to al-Qaeda, but President Erdogan halted the case in 2014. According to the investigation into al-Qaeda cells in Turkey, İbrahim Şen (37), a convicted al-Qaeda terrorist who was detained in Pakistan and transferred to Guantanamo, where he was kept until 2005, was running a recruitment and trafficking scheme between Turkey and Syria and using the İHH to cover up the terrorist network.
Due to his political cover from the government, Şen was saved from his legal troubles. He was arrested in January 2014 and indicted in October 2014 but let go at the first hearing of the trial in October 2014. Turkish police officers were then dismissed, and the investigation was hushed up.
The İHH had also been flagged by Russia as an organization that smuggled arms to jihadist groups in Syria, according to intelligence documents submitted to the UN Security Council on February 10, 2016. The Russian documents even furnished the license plate numbers of trucks dispatched by the İHH loaded with arms and supplies bound for al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, including the Nusra Front.
The leaked emails of Berat Albayrak, a son-in-law of President Erdogan and former finance and treasury minister, also implicated the İHH in arming Libyan factions. A secret document found in the leaked emails tells the story of how the owner of a bankrupt shipping and container company demanded compensation from the Turkish government for damage his ship sustained while transporting arms between Libyan ports at the order of Turkish authorities in 2011. The document revealed all the details of a Turkish government-approved arms shipment to rebels in a ship contracted by the İHH.
