Levent Kenez/Stockholm
İbrahim Beşinci, head of the jihadist TÜGVA (Turkey Youth Foundation), which is funded by the Turkish government, was part of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s official delegation during his visit to New York between September 21 and 26 for the United Nations General Assembly. Beşinci attended the UN General Assembly and listened to speeches by world leaders from the guest balconies.
TÜGVA, which operates as an extension of Turkish intelligence under the cover of an NGO, has a secret mandate to recruit young people in Turkey and in diaspora communities abroad to help support the Islamist regime of President Erdogan. The foundation, under the patronage of Erdogan’s son Bilal, runs dozens of dormitories across Turkey, has access to public schools through cultural cooperation schemes and actively promotes political Islam in line with the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In a post on X, Beşinci shared a photo from the General Assembly, stating, “We listened to our President, Mr. Erdogan, at the UN General Assembly. We witnessed yet another speech that will be remembered throughout history, practically a lesson in itself. He has always been the strongest voice for the oppressed and the innocent. May Allah never take him from us.”
On September 15, Beşinci attended the “Great Family Gathering” organized by pro-government associations and said, “We are against LGBT propaganda, which spreads its poison in every field under the guise of individual rights and freedoms, as well as against the terror it creates.”
TÜGVA previously took the lead on the first day of 2024 as tens of thousands marched through the streets of Istanbul in protest of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, attracting widespread attention. Reports indicated that Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet), responsible for mosques nationwide, instructed imams in Istanbul to join the protest and encourage their congregations to participate as well. During the rally, a number of young participants donned keffiyehs resembling those worn by Abu Ubaida, spokesperson for the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, with faces covered as they marched. Abu Ubaida has gained prominence among circles aligned with radical Islamist groups in Turkey, being hailed as a hero.
In February, TÜGVA organized a Wushu Kung Fu (Chinese martial art emphasizing fighting techniques) tournament in the city of Yalova in solidarity with Gaza. As stated in the foundation’s social media posts regarding the tournament, the hope is for every TÜGVA youth participant to emulate Abu Ubaida.
In 2021 leaked photos from TÜGVA’s confidential archives revealed the foundation’s jihadist-style boot camps aimed at young people in Turkey and the Turkish diaspora in Europe and the US. The photos showed young men posing under jihadist banners, attending lectures by clerics and making a hand gesture with one finger pointing upwards, associated with jihadists from groups like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The images were stored in a folder labeled “Action Camp” (Aksiyon Kampı), comprising 12 photos intended for internal use and were shared with TÜGVA’s board of directors, indicating that the activities were approved by the foundation’s top management.
One of the clerics invited to the TÜGVA camp was Nurettin (or Nureddin) Yıldız, a jihadist and antisemitic Turkish cleric known for advocating armed jihad. Yıldız characterizes democracy as a system for infidels, claiming it can only serve as a tool for deception to attain power. He is also the person who radicalized the young jihadist police officer responsible for the assassination of Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov in December 2016. Despite his involvement as an accessory to murder, the government shielded him from prosecution.
In 2021 TÜGVA organized a summer camp for female high school students with the motto “Jerusalem Awaits You.” The girls’ camp had a special guest, Sümeyye Erdogan, the president’s daughter and the wife of Selçuk Bayraktar, whose family company produces drones used by the Turkish military. Sümeyye participated in several activities, including archery and a tour of the sports track. She took the stage in the evening to cheers and addressed the young people in attendance. With a banner behind her saying “Jerusalem Awaits You. Rush to help like Salah ad-Din did,” in reference to a sultan considered a hero by Muslims who won Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, she also had a surprise for the audience. She called her father on her cell phone and had him address the students, who shouted excitedly when they learned that the president was on the line.
TÜGVA had previously participated in Erdogan’s official delegations as well. Nordic Monitor had reported that Turkey’s foreign ministry assisted two TÜGVA operatives connected to Turkish intelligence in obtaining Schengen visas from the Belgian Consulate in Istanbul by using diplomatic channels to expedite the process. According to leaked documents, on May 19, 2017 the ministry sent an urgent diplomatic note to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara requesting help to secure visas for two officials from the foundation. The note vouched for TÜGVA’s then-chairman İsmail Emanet and his deputy, Seçkin Koç, stating their visit to Brussels was linked to a NATO summit and that they were part of Erdogan’s official delegation for the event on May 25, 2017.
