Erdogan government feigned ignorance about secret Hamas meeting in Turkey

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya avoided addressing a parliamentary question regarding a reported secret meeting of senior Hamas officials in Turkey, a country known to provide safe haven for Hamas leaders and members.

On December 17, 2023 the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (KAN) reported that senior Hamas figures, including Deputy Chairman of the Political Bureau Hamas Saleh al-Arouri and former Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, held a secret coordination meeting in Turkey in early December.

The venue was selected for security reasons, as Turkey, under the leadership of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has become a major supporter of the Palestinian jihadist organization, offering sanctuary for Hamas figures.

The claim was brought up in the Turkish parliament on December 18 by Süreyya Öneş Derici, a retired intelligence officer from the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) who currently serves as a member of parliament from the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and sits on the parliamentary Committee for Security and Intelligence.

Derici inquired if such a meeting could potentially pose risks to Turkey’s national security and sought clarification on whether Turkish officials were present at the meeting. She also questioned whether the Interior Ministry had any knowledge of the gathering from its sources.

Parliamentary question posed to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on secret Hamas meeting in Turkey:

Turkish law mandates that parliamentary questions be answered by cabinet ministers within 15 days; however, Yerlikaya allowed the deadline to pass without responding. On January 30 he sent a belated letter to parliament stating that the subject matter did not fall within his purview as interior minister.

What is more, Yerlikaya included his response with 19 other parliamentary questions directed to him, answering all with a single sentence indicating that none fell under his jurisdiction.

It’s inconceivable that the Interior Ministry, responsible for immigration and overseeing entry and exit points for foreigners through border checkpoints, harbors, airports and land crossings, was unaware of the travels of Hamas members to Turkey. By law, the Directorate General of Migration Management, under the Interior Ministry’s supervision, handles the entry, stay, exit and deportation of foreigners to and from Turkey.

The ministry also oversees the country’s largest law enforcement agency, the Security Directorate General (Emniyet), which includes a specialized intelligence branch responsible for gathering vast amounts of intelligence throughout Turkey.

Furthermore, the directorate provides protection details for VIPs, visiting dignitaries and visitors considered to be at risk as well as implementing security measures in and around venues requiring protection.

If Hamas leaders had indeed convened such a meeting, personnel from the Security Directorate General would have been intimately involved in their security arrangements.

It’s no secret that the Erdogan government shelters Hamas leaders and members in Turkey, facilitates their networks, aids in fundraising activities and has even granted Turkish citizenship to dozens of Hamas leaders. President Erdogan openly declares his support for Hamas and repeatedly expresses his anti-Israel stance in his speeches.

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya’s response to the claim of a secret Hamas meeting in Turkey:

The last instance of Erdogan endorsing Hamas was on March 9, 2024, during a speech at a convention organized by the Islamist İlim Yayma Vakfı foundation in Istanbul. He stated, “Turkey openly and firmly stands behind Hamas, freely discussing everything with its leaders.”

Erdogan rejected the designation of Hamas as a terrorist organization, saying, “We courageously declared to the whole world that such a black stain cannot be cast upon Palestinian militants who defend their land, their honor and their own people. No one can make us use the term ‘terrorist organization’ for Hamas.”

Threats made by Israeli officials to Hamas leaders under protection in Turkey also prompted a strong response from Turkey. During a press briefing on his return flight from Qatar on December 4, 2023, Erdogan said, “If they dare to take such a step against Turkey and the Turkish people, they will be doomed to pay a price from which they cannot recover.”

The Turkish president was responding to a Wall Street Journal article that claimed Israel was planning to target and kill Hamas members residing outside Palestine. He warned that those attempting such actions should be mindful of the potentially severe consequences.

In an unusual move, Turkish intelligence also addressed the claims through the state-run Anadolu news agency, stating unequivocally that it would never permit any plots orchestrated by Israeli intelligence to be carried out in Turkey.

In a recording aired by public broadcaster KAN in early December, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said Israel was determined to kill Hamas’s leaders “in every location” in the world, including Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, even if it takes many years.

Al-Arouri, who participated remotely in the secret Hamas meeting held in Turkey in December from his location in Lebanon, was killed in an Israeli strike on January 2. He was the founding commander of the Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and had been residing in Turkey, maintaining close contact with the top leadership of the Turkish government, including President Erdogan.

According to KAN, Hamas leadership felt confident that their security would not be compromised if they held a coordination meeting in Turkey to discuss steps for the ongoing conflict with Israel, which began on October 7, 2023, following Hamas attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets. In the assault, Hamas fighters killed approximately 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 others.

There were also allegations that Hamas leaders were present in Turkey during the October attack. Speaking to CNN International on December 14, the Turkish president’s chief foreign policy and security adviser, Akif Çağatay Kılıç, conceded that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh might have been in Turkey at the time. “The issue is not where [Hamas members] are at what time; the issue is how we can resolve the conflict that we’re currently facing, the war that we’re currently engaged in,” he said.

He defended his government’s decision to host senior Hamas figures, claiming that Turkey is engaging with Hamas “to bring about peace.”

Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT has reportedly established a specialized anti-Mossad unit comprising veteran officers. The assertion was made by Abdurrahman Şimşek, identified as a public relations agent and propagandist for MIT. Şimşek has been operating under the cover of a journalist at the Sabah daily, a media outlet considered a mouthpiece for the regime and owned by Erdogan’s family.

“Within the organization [MIT] is a highly active and experienced unit engaged in the fight against Mossad. There are teams that are quite skilled, shall we say. They are aware of every step Mossad takes,” Şimşek said in an interview published by Sabah.

Since 2021, Turkey has carried out five planned police and intelligence operations against alleged Israeli intelligence activities on Turkish soil, resulting in criminal prosecutions. The operations were aimed at cracking down on surveillance activities attributed to Mossad that targeted Iranian, Hamas and affiliated groups operating out of Turkey.