Turkey allegedly expels Hamas leader despite close tiesTurkey allegedly expels Hamas leader despite close ties

The US-based Al-Monitor reported that Turkey has asked Hamas leaders in Turkey to leave the country as it does not want to jeopardize its relations with Israel. Journalist and columnist Fehim Taştekin wrote in Al-Monitor that Turkey is cooling its relations with Hamas while still trying to play a mediating role in Gaza. Turkish President Erdogan has toned down his rhetoric, Taştekin wrote, citing two unnamed sources who said Ankara had politely shown the door to Hamas leaders in Turkey.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Turkey

Taştekin also notes that Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas who lives in Qatar and Turkey, was in Istanbul on 7 October, the day Hamas attacked Israel. According to two different sources, Haniyeh was politely sent away after footage circulated on social media showing Haniyeh and other Hamas members prostrating themselves in a “prayer of gratitude” while watching news of the attack on television. Both sources said Ankara politely asked Haniyeh and his entourage to leave Turkey because it did not want to be seen as protecting Hamas after the killing of Israeli civilians. A Turkish official denied the claims.

How will Hamas-Turkey relations evolve?

Last July in Ankara, Erdogan met Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, which Turkey, unlike the West, does not recognise as a terrorist organization, but Erdogan has also been trying to mend fences with Israel, a staunch ally of the US. According to a Palestinian source, the pressure on Ankara to cut ties with Hamas came from the US, not Israel.

Taştekin says that unlike his previous angry outbursts against Israel, this time Erdogan is holding his tongue, careful not to jeopardize the new chapter he has opened with Israel. A Palestinian source in Ankara told Taştekin that Palestinian groups, including Hamas, were dissatisfied with Turkey’s stance. However, Taştekin does not see this development as the end of the Hamas-Turkey relationship: “Still, Ankara may not be seeing the current cooling of ties as irreversible, and Hamas leaders may not make an issue of it in the hope that Turkey’s door remains open to them.”

Turkey eager to play mediator for its reputation

Taştekin also comments on Turkey’s eagerness to mediate: “The calls made to Ankara to mediate for the release of foreign hostages held by Hamas have given Erdogan the opportunity to play the role he was hoping for”. Whenever Turkey has raised its diplomatic profile, as in the war against Ukraine and the grain corridor crisis, Erdogan has skilfully used it to project an image of a sought-after leader on the international stage, says Taştekin.

That image also influences his supporters at home. The negotiations with Hamas are being presented in a polished way to please and impress the citizens, the majority of whom are anti-Israel, while at the same time being careful not to make too harsh statements in order to protect international relations. The pro-AKP Sözcü TV recently ran a news bulletin under the headline ‘Turkey in action for Gaza’, giving the impression that Erdogan is playing an important mediating role. In addition, the state-backed Turkish media has reported that Turkey has suffered the most economically since the start of the war. The news on Sozcu TV showed that the fall in the Turkish stock market was the highest of any country.

Sanctioning Hamas members and financiers in Turkey

Another development that showed the links between Hamas and Turkey was the expansion of financial sanctions against Hamas announced by the US Treasury Department on 18 October. The US Treasury Department said it was sanctioning 10 members and financial supporters of Hamas in Gaza and elsewhere.

Some of the individuals, described by the US as ‘key members, operatives and financial facilitators of Hamas’, are based in Turkey. The sanctions freeze the assets of Amer Kamal Sharif Alshawa, Ahmed Sadu Jahleb, Aiman Ahmad Al-Duwaik, Aiman Ahmad Al-Duwaik, Walid Mohammed Mustafa Jadallah and their families, who are foreign nationals resident in Turkey and are alleged to manage Hamas’s companies and investment portfolio in Turkey.