Turkey acts against the West with Hamas
Hamas, the extremist Islamist group that controls Gaza, is committed to the murder of Israelis and the destruction of Israel itself. It launches regular rocket attacks on the Jewish state, along with other terrorist atrocities and assassinations. Its militants also inflict misery on the people they rule, all in pursuit of an unattainable goal motivated solely by atavistic hate. Why, then, has Turkey, a supposed ally of the West, not only given sanctuary to these dangerous terrorists but allowed them to use its territory to plan their attacks?
Today a Daily Telegraph investigation reveals just how welcoming an environment Turkey has provided for Hamas. Its operatives have planned several recent attacks from Istanbul, including a failed assassination plot targeting the mayor of Jerusalem, an Israeli MP and Israel’s police chief. The group’s deputy leader, despite having a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government, is allowed to travel freely around the country without fear of arrest. Turkish intelligence agents are in close contact with Hamas militants, evidently turning a blind eye to their activities, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, even hosted the leader of the group last weekend.
In recent years, relations between Israel and many countries in the Arab world have improved substantially, as they have put aside their enmity to confront a common enemy in Iran. The likes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt have consequently distanced themselves from Hamas. Turkey has, however, gone in the opposite direction, embracing Islamist groups as Mr Erdogan continues to dismantle the secular foundations of his country.
Mr Erdogan has concurrently pursued a foreign policy that has been, at times, openly antagonistic towards his allies in the West. A Nato member, Turkey defied the United States by purchasing a missile defence system from Russia that the Americans say poses a threat to their F-35 stealth fighter jets. The recent Nato summit in London was marked by infighting over Mr Erdogan’s decision earlier this year to launch military operations against the Kurds in northern Syria.
Turkey increasingly resembles less a reliable friend of the democratic world and more a destabilising autocracy. It is to be hoped that it changes tack before a rupture with the West becomes unavoidable.