Every dictatorship comes to an end, and Turkey’s will be no exception. When Erdoğan dies of natural causes, flees to Moscow or Qatar, or ascends the gallows, there will be an accounting for those that enabled him, President Donald Trump’s love affair with the Turkish despot notwithstanding. Turkey’s next leader and much of his cabinet are likely today in prison, as are tens of thousands of others who will demand justice as a precondition for reconciliation.
Not every Turk, however, is equally culpable in the reign of terror that Erdoğan unleashed. Erdoğan empowered the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) to both target Turkish citizens who dissented from Erdoğan’s Islamist vision and to support terror groups abroad.
Most famously, just over a decade ago, Erdoğan ordered the arrest of journalists from the main center-left newspaper Cumhuriyet as well as its editor after Cumhuriyet photographed trucks belonging to MIT delivering weapons to a Syrian Al Qaeda affiliate.
This was a rule rather than the exception. Leaked recordings show Turkey transferring weaponry to Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria. Captured Islamic State fighters and the would-be caliphates intelligence agents detailed their interplay with Turkish intelligence during interrogations.
Behind-the-scenes, the German government is far more worried about the potential for terrorism among MIT-run cells among its Turkish diaspora than it is about a renewed flood of immigrants. MIT cultivated Islamist terrorist groups and mercenaries in Syria and Libya to deploy into the Caucasus and Kurdistan.
MIT today allows Hamas to plot terror against Israelis and other Jews from Istanbul safe houses. Within Somalia, MIT raises a new generation of radicals to sow chaos across Africa. MIT is also at the forefront of the Pakistan terror nexus as Erdoğan seeks to bolster Kashmir terror groups.
Turkey’s next leader and much of his cabinet are likely today in prison, as are tens of thousands of others who will demand justice as a precondition for reconciliation.
When Erdoğan falls, it will be necessary to unravel the damage and shed light on the activities of the MIT for the past two decades. Here, there may be lessons from Qatar. Qatar is a terror sponsor in all but formal designation, but it seemingly gains a free pass from successive U.S. administrations.
The reason is not simply Qatari largesse, but rather selective cooperation. The Central Intelligence Agency relies on their Qatari counterparts to use their connections to identify terrorists for elimination. Qatar’s game, of course, is only to identify terrorist who are not under the country’s direct control or whom they no longer need.
Both free Turks and U.S. or European security services should be prepared to imprison all MIT employees for 20 years, the length of time they have terrorized Turkey and the region. They can then allow them to purchase their freedom by confessing what they know about terrorists in Libya, Syria, Somalia, Germany, Malaysia, Pakistan, and perhaps even in the United States.
Culling Turkey’s terror-sponsoring intelligence can be done quietly in the shadows and should begin now. If MIT agents want a free future with their families instead, they can approach foreign embassies or their points of contact in Western and Arab intelligence services to gain credit or even immunity should their information lead to the elimination of their former terror and extremist clientele.
They should understand, however: Free Turks and the international community will not differentiate between the Libyan or Syrian terrorists who slaughter civilians, and the MIT handlers who have empowered them to do so.
In 1402, the forces of Amir Timur (Tamerlane) routed the forces of Sultan Bayezid I at Ankara. The MIT may worship Erdoğan as a new sultan. He is one. But as Erdoğan sees himself as Mehmet the Conqueror or Suleiman the Magnificent, Turks see him for what he is: the new Bayezid I. If the MIT has any value as an intelligence agency, they realize this too.
My advice: MIT, your day of reckoning is coming, and you can’t do a damned thing to stop it. Defect now and help undo the damage of the Erdoğan years, or follow Erdoğan into prison or the grave.
