A Secret Intelligence Deal between Turkey and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham… What Are the Details?

The Nordic Monitor website has revealed a secret agreement between the Turkish intelligence agency and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra. Under this agreement, the jihadist group committed to refraining from carrying out attacks on Turkish soil in exchange for logistical support, weapons, fighters, and funding facilitated or passing through Turkey.

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This agreement, reached in the early years of the Syrian civil war, stipulated that HTS, then led by Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Abu Mohammad al-Joulani), would focus its efforts on toppling the Bashar al-Assad regime while ensuring that its fighters did not carry out any attacks in Turkey.

Al-Sharaa upheld his commitments, and HTS did not launch any attacks in Turkey. Despite being officially designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara and being banned and blacklisted due to its ties with Al-Qaeda, the group operated freely within Turkey. It was able to raise funds, recruit fighters, obtain weapons and supplies, and even gain intelligence data that enabled it to conduct effective attacks in Syria, according to the Arab Center for Extremism Studies.

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At the same time, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan‘s Islamist government publicly promoted a different narrative regarding HTS, creating a false impression that Turkey was complying with UN Security Council resolutions on terrorism. This facade was maintained through orchestrated police operations targeting some of the group’s networks inside Turkey.

According to multiple judicial and law enforcement documents in Turkey, HTS has been officially classified as a terrorist organization under various names: Jabhat al-Nusra, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. These documents, reviewed by Nordic Monitor, highlight HTS’s past ties to Al-Qaeda and stress that, despite its later claims of severing links with Al-Qaeda, it remains a national security threat to Turkey.

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The documents also reveal that HTS recruits fighters, raises funds in Turkey, transports Turkish minors to Syria, facilitates the smuggling of foreign fighters across the Turkish border, kidnaps individuals for ransom in Syria, engages in violent and coercive acts, and is involved in the illegal smuggling of historical artifacts between Turkey and Syria.

In several court rulings up to 2024, the Turkish Supreme Court of Appeals described HTS as an armed terrorist organization, emphasizing that it uses force, violence, intimidation, and threats to undermine Turkey’s constitutional order, endanger state security, disrupt public order, and pursue unlawful objectives.

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“Although the group declared that it no longer pledges allegiance to Al-Qaeda, its ideological foundation, core philosophy, and operational approach remain rooted in Al-Qaeda’s ideology,” stated a court document dated May 2, 2023.

The Nordic Monitor claims that Erdoğan’s government has been playing a double game, portraying itself as combating terrorist networks while secretly collaborating with them, supporting and enabling them through various resources.

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