Turkey’s “double game” on ISIS and support for extremist groups highlighted after horrific Istanbul attack
Turkish President Erdoğan has long been accused of helping ISIS and other extremist militants fight Kurds and Assad
Paramedics push a stretcher at Turkey's largest airport, Istanbul Ataturk, Turkey, June 28, 2016. (Credit: Reuters/Osman Orsal)
Istanbul’s
popular Atatürk airport was plunged into chaos this week after a
horrific attack by three suicide bombers killed at least 43 people and
injured another 239.
Turkish government officials say they have strong evidence that the bombings were carried out by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, or ISIS.
The alleged ISIS attack has reignited concern about Turkey’s “double game” on ISIS in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long been accused of indirectly and even directly helping ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria, in their fights against Kurdish rebels and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
For years, Turkey — a U.S. ally and NATO member — let ISIS and other violent Salafi (Sunni extremist) groups cross its open border with Syria, which some dubbed the “jihadi highway.”
A former ISIS member told Newsweek in 2014 that the so-called Islamic State saw Turkey as its ally. He explained that heavily armed ISIS fighters were allowed to freely cross the NATO member’s border, and “ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks.”
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The alleged ISIS attack has reignited concern about Turkey’s “double game” on ISIS in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has long been accused of indirectly and even directly helping ISIS and other extremist groups in Syria, in their fights against Kurdish rebels and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
For years, Turkey — a U.S. ally and NATO member — let ISIS and other violent Salafi (Sunni extremist) groups cross its open border with Syria, which some dubbed the “jihadi highway.”
A former ISIS member told Newsweek in 2014 that the so-called Islamic State saw Turkey as its ally. He explained that heavily armed ISIS fighters were allowed to freely cross the NATO member’s border, and “ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all because there was full cooperation with the Turks.”
CLICK TO READ MORE
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