Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm
A Turkish al-Qaeda operative, previously used as an asset by Turkish intelligence agency MIT to influence the Syrian civil war, has been appointed as a general in the newly restructured Syrian army following last month’s takeover of Damascus by the jihadist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies.
Ömer Çiftçi, known by his nom de guerre Muhtar Turk or Mukhtar al-Turki, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the Syrian army, announced by the Ministry of Defense’s General Military Command on December 28 in Resolution No. 8, which elevated five senior jihadist figures to this rank.
Çiftçi was granted Syrian citizenship and listed in the resolution under the name of Umar Mohammed Jaftashi, with the General Military Command justifying the promotions as crucial for safeguarding religion and the homeland.
This 45-year-old Turkish jihadist, born in Turkey’s Osmaniye province, began his militant career in Afghanistan in 2004 and has since become a key enabler of HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka Abu Mohammed al-Jolani) in the Syrian conflict.
He was wanted in Turkey due to his affiliation with al-Qaeda and is the subject of ongoing criminal investigations. The Turkish Interior Ministry listed him in the highest-priority “red category” on its most-wanted list, displaying his name and photo and offering a reward for information leading to his arrest.
The Syrian Defense Ministry resolution, which promoted former jihadists to the rank of general, included the promotion of Turkish al-Qaeda fighter Ömer Çiftçi to brigadier general on December 28, 2024.
Following his appointment as a general in the Syrian army, Çiftçi’s name was quickly removed from Turkey’s most-wanted list without any official explanation. The outstanding arrest warrant for him is expected to be rescinded and the criminal charges dropped by Turkey’s judiciary, which is now fully controlled by the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Çiftçi fought alongside the Taliban against the US and its allies in Afghanistan for five years before returning to Turkey, only to later join al-Qaeda factions in the Syrian theatre. He has since become one of al-Sharaa’s most trusted figures.
He served as the military emir of Aleppo following the reorganization of the Nusra Front into Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), which was shortly thereafter renamed HTS. He has acted as a mediator in the internal conflicts among jihadist groups, particularly between HTS and factions such as Ahrar al-Sham, Suqour al-Sham and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki movement, successfully forging alliances among various jihadist factions.
He was also pivotal in forming a military and strategic alliance with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), becoming one of the key figures HTS relied on for coordinating military operations with Turkish troops. When Turkish army outposts in northern Syria were attacked by Bashar al-Assad’s forces in 2020, with some even besieged, Çiftçi led joint operations with the Turkish army in the Jabal al-Zawiya and Saraqib regions.
He was one of the key planners behind the military campaign launched by HTS and its allies on November 25, 2024, which culminated in the capture of Damascus and the ouster of Assad on December 8. Since then, he has been focused on managing the integration of jihadist factions in the Daraa region into the Syrian army under the Ministry of Defense.
Confidential documents obtained by Nordic Monitor profile Çiftçi as an asset of the Turkish intelligence agency (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MIT), which has been collaborating with the Turkish al-Qaeda network in Syria since 2011 to overthrow the Assad regime. Phone records reveal his close contact with Abdulkadir Şen, a radical figure who has evaded multiple terrorism investigations in Turkey with the assistance of the Erdogan government.
Çiftçi used Turkish cell number +905536488289 to maintain contact with Şen. Cell tower signals traced his location to Turkey’s Mus province in September 2015, at a time when he was the subject of an arrest warrant, suggesting that Turkish authorities were aware the fugitive was in the country, aligning with other jihadists, yet chose not to execute the warrant.
Şen has served as the media coordinator for al-Qaeda and briefly participated in military campaigns in Syria along with his brother, İbrahim Şen, a former Gitmo detainee and a convicted, high-profile al-Qaeda militant. The Şen brothers jointly operated al-Qaeda cells in Turkey, facilitated the movement of jihadists into Syria and supplied them with resources, with the assistance of Turkish intelligence.
İbrahim Şen was detained in Pakistan over his al-Qaeda links and transferred to Guantanamo, where he was held until 2005, when US officials decided to turn him over to Turkey. According to a 2014 investigation conducted by Turkish police, he had been working with Turkey’s MIT, aiding efforts to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime in alignment with the political objectives of the Erdogan government.
Interestingly, Çiftçi was flagged during the investigation into the murder of Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov, who was gunned down in December 2016 by an al-Qaeda-linked Turkish police officer in Ankara. Evidence gathered during the investigation showed he had been in contact with Abdulkadir Şen; yet the public prosecutor ignored the lead, protecting him from the criminal probe. The case was ultimately hushed up by the Erdogan government.
Çiftçi’s mindset was revealed in a series of interviews conducted by the HTS media office months before the coordinated attack on Damascus to topple the Assad regime. In these interviews he stated that armed jihad was necessary to reclaim territories that he believed rightfully belonged to Muslims. He also advocated for global jihad, particularly against Israel, the US and Europe.
The videos were removed from YouTube by HTS after Çiftçi’s appointment as brigadier general by the al-Sharaa administration. It appears that HTS deemed them risky at this stage, as the group has been attempting to convey more conciliatory messages following the takeover of Damascus, consolidate its power and engage in talks with regional and global actors.
Çiftçi is not the only Turkish al-Qaeda figure involved for years in armed clashes in Syria. Dozens of Turkish al-Qaeda fighters have now been appointed to official positions in Syrian government institutions. Unlike Çiftçi’s case, however, most of these individuals’ names were withheld from official announcements due to concerns about potential criticism both within Syria and internationally.
