It has been noted many times here that Turkey did not oppose the Islamic State in any effective way, and indeed, actively aided it in many ways. It seemed clear that Erdogan was hoping to co-opt the Islamic State, use it against the Kurds and Assad, and incorporate its domains into his own revived caliphate.
It has also been noted many times here that the Islamic State was, before President Trump took office, on its way to being normalized, transitioning from being a terror group to being a respected member of the family of nations — the same track that the PLO is on.
“The ISIS Ambassador to Turkey,” by Anne Speckhard and Ardian Shajkovci, Homeland Security, March 18, 2019:
In the complicated relationship between the government of Turkey and ISIS, it’s unclear how much of the relationship was direct and formal, as opposed to support coming from private individuals and entities in Turkey, or in response to the vast amounts of money ISIS had to spend on a network it deployed inside Turkey to receive and funnel foreign fighters, weapons, and medical supplies into its huge state apparatus. In any case, it’s clear that every state needs diplomats to negotiate political deals with the countries near its borders. ISIS, it seems, was no exception to this rule, as ICSVE researchers learned in a February 2019 five-hour interview with an ISIS emir, Abu Mansour al Maghrebi, who claims he essentially served as the ISIS ambassador to Turkey.
BAGHDAD, Iraq – “My job in Raqqa was dealing with the international cases,” Abu Mansour al Maghrebi recalls of his three years serving ISIS. “My issue [duties] was our [Islamic State’s] relationship with Turkish intelligence. Actually, this started when I was working at the borders,” he explains, harking back to the first job he undertook for ISIS before becoming an ISIS emir and, seemingly, their ambassador to Turkey.
Abu Mansour, an electrical engineer from Morocco, came to Syria in 2013. Like many foreign fighters we interviewed, he stated he came hoping to unshackle Muslims from dictatorial regimes and build an Islamic Caliphate ruled by Islamic ideals. He traveled from Casablanca, Morocco, to Istanbul, Turkey, and through the southern border of Turkey into Syria. His first stop was Idlib, Syria, just as hostilities between al Nusra and ISIS had begun. Abu Mansour ended up on the ISIS side of that rift and was assigned by ISIS the job of an intake official on the Syrian side of the Turkish border. His job was to receive the steady flow of foreign fighters streaming into ISIS via Turkey – many who shared his same dream.
“My job was to direct operatives to receive the foreign fighters in Turkey,” Abu Mansour explains, referring to the network of ISIS-paid people who facilitated foreign fighter travel from Istanbul to the Turkish border towns of Gaziantep, Antakya, Sanliurfa, etc. “Most of them were paid by Dawlah [ISIS],” Abu Mansour explains, but differentiates them from ISIS members, due to their non-ideological motivations. “Most of those working on the Turkish side, their goal is money,” he said. Although when asked about ISIS networks inside Turkey, he also admits, “Many in Turkey believe and give their bayat [oath of allegiance] to Dawlah. There are ISIS guys living in Turkey, individuals and groups, but no armed groups inside Turkey.”
In addressing the foreign fighters, Abu Mansour explains: “[They came from] different places, from North Africa mostly. The numbers of Europeans was not a big number, 4,000 total.”
“Tunis 13,000, 4,000 from Morocco. There were less fighters from Libya because they had a front there [in Libya], fighting less than 1,000. I’m just talking about up to 2015,” he adds. Not surprisingly, his figures confirm data collected on the origins and numbers of foreign fighters who joined ISIS – that the most came from Tunisia. It was interesting how he can rattle off the numbers….
mortimer says
ISIS could not have existed as long as it did without the complicity and collaboration of Turkey. It is clear that oil revenue from illegal ISIS oil enriched the son of Erdogan and arms and materiel supplies from Turkey to ISIS kept them in the business of murder, extortion, slavery and torture much longer than anyone expected.
Turkey is complicit in extending the suffering of tens of thousands. Those Turkish leaders who were involved in this wasteful exercise should be made to pay a price for their COLLUSION WITH EVIL.
christianblood says
The Islamic State had an ambassador to Turkey partly on behalf of the US and its allies to facilitate the follow of arms and terrorists into Syria in order to overthrow Assad and initiate religious genocide against Christians and other minorities in Syria! In fact, the warmonger, John MCcain went secretly to Syria and met with Al-Qaeda and ISIS leaders there to do just that! See the photos below:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/azdc/2014/08/24/mccain-photo-isis-terrorists-syria/14475207/
No Muzzies Here says
Turkey is not our friend. It pretends to be a friend of the West, while doing all it can to turn the West Islamic.
elee says
+1
GreekEmpress says
So much on JW today about Turkey that I am beside myself! This article in particular screams to me that Erdogan intends to build a second Ottoman Empire.
And those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.