Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin revealed growing evidence confirming Erdogan’s utilization of ISIS and Al-Qaeda fighters to support Fayez al-Sarraj’s beleaguered Government of National Accord, which is allied with extremist groups connected to the Muslim Brotherhood.
(Libya, 11 August 2020) – In an article published in the Washington Examiner, Rubin said that documents indicate that fighters that belong to ISIS are on the payroll of either the Turkish Ministry of Defense or the intelligence service, after Erdogan sent thousands of Syrian mercenaries to LIbya.
Rubin stressed that Ankara’s Syrian mercenaries committed ethnic cleansing crimes against ethnic and religious minorities in Syria, in areas that were devastated by Turkey. Erdogan took advantage of these terrorist organizations to offer a religious cover for the crimes of his mercenaries, in exchange for providing funds and safe haven to fighters of these terrorist organisations.
The former US official emphasized that Turkish regime’s utilization of ISIS and Al-Qaeda terrorists is part of a broader strategy, which includes providing support to terrorist groups in the African Sahel region, especially in Mali, and arming the Boko Haram group in Nigeria.
Rubin also pointed out that the strong relations between Erdogan’s regime and the active terrorist organizations inside and outside the Middle East, is reflected in the involvement of the Turkish Sadat company, a private Islamist paramilitary group run by one of his top former advisers Adnan Tanrıverdi, which specializes in money laundering operations for the benefit of extremist organizations, in addition to providing military advice.
Rubin urged the Trump Administration to confront the ambitions of Turkish regime, its support for terrorism and expansionist policies, in order to protect the national security of the United States, especially after Ankara’s policies have become a source of instability in the eastern Mediterranean.
Al-Marsad
INTERNATIONALIST 360° 