The Turkish government has denied this, but given Turkey’s stance toward Israel and Erdogan’s increasingly obvious affinity for political Islam and desire to restore the Ottoman caliphate, there is nothing implausible about it.
“Turkey gave citizenship to Hamas members planning terror attacks – report,” by Cody Levine, Jerusalem Post, August 15, 2020 (thanks to M.):
Turkey has allegedly given citizenship to senior Hamas operatives in Istanbul, raising concerns that the terrorist group will have greater freedom to organize attacks against Israeli citizens, according to a report from The Telegraph on Thursday.
According to the report, journalists from The Telegraph saw the Turkish identity papers and found that at least one of 12 senior Hamas members received Turkish citizenship and an 11-digit identity number.
While Hamas has been proscribed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union and has had its armed wing banned in the UK, Turkey argues that it is a legitimate organization that was democratically elected, in reference to the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections and violent removal of Fatah members from the Gaza Strip in 2007.
A senior source told The Telegraph that the Hamas operatives “are not foot soldiers but the most senior Hamas operatives outside of Gaza. [They] are actively raising funds and directing operatives to carry out attacks in the present day.
“The Turkish Government gave in to pressure by Hamas to grant citizenship to its operatives, thereby allowing them to travel more freely, endangering other countries that have listed Hamas as a terror group,” the source added.
After being contacted by The Telegraph, a spokesman for the Turkish government refused to comment, and claimed the accusations are baseless and made by a foreign government.
Similarly, a Hamas official allegedly denied the claims, noting that members of the terrorist organization only operate in the Palestinian territories….
Currently, Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh is on a visit to Turkey, which may include a potential meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan…
Yogi says
And idiots from E.U. Wants Turkey in the European Union, unbelievable!!Europe is too weak to deal with this savages, they so sneaky and hostile, they have no idea ..
gravenimage says
Actually, the push to get Turkey into the Eu has been dead in the water for several years now. One of the few bits of goodnews.
SAFI says
If the turkish govt denies it so categorically then I’m pretty confident the accusations are true. And from what I’ve been hearing this offer of turkish citizenship to terrorists has not been limited to members of Hamas only but has also been promised (or granted already) to members of al Nusra and other jihadi proxies fighting for Ankara’s interests…
gravenimage says
Turkey accused of giving citizenship to Hamas members planning jihad terror attacks
…………….
Yet too many still believe that Turkey is “moderate”.
OLD GUY says
Erdogan is bad news for Turkey and the world, his vision is him being the leader of the islamic dictatorship that he wants to rule the world. He’s as bad as HITLER.