Former State Department Adviser Highlights Obstacles in U.S. Collaboration with Turkey and Qatar on Counter-Terrorism
A few days ago, the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian Nelson, visited Turkey under the name of urging Turkey to take more action towards sources of funding terrorist groups, also to commit to the US, and international sanctions on Russia, its entities and businessmen. The US official stated very clearly after meetings with Turkish officials that the US administration is deeply concerned about the ability of the Palestinian Hamas movement to secure more money through donations in Turkey, saying it uses this money to carry out terrorist attacks.
Clear priorities for the visit
Hazem Al-Ghabra, a former adviser of the US State Department, said in a statement to Target Media Platform it is clear that the US Treasury Department is interested in the financial issue not only in the United States but in the whole world, specifically when it comes to combating terrorism and US sanctions. To succeed in this policy, the largest possible number of countries should impose this policy, especially those allied to Washington.
Al-Ghabra added that before this visit there were other visits of the US Treasury Department during the past weeks, the most important of which was to Qatar. “These visits aim to cut off Hamas’ financial resources. Hamas receives huge funding and donations from Qatar and Turkey,” he said, “as these funds are officially declared to support the Palestinian people, but Hamas uses them to support armed and terrorist operations against Israel, as we saw on October 7th.”
The major concerns with Turkey and Qatar
“The United States of America, as a partner and ally of Israel, wants to help it block Hamas’ financial resources, but the devil is in the detail – there is a problem with Qatar regarding these funds, but the biggest problem is with Turkey, as they are a member of NATO, and part of the orbit of European nations and the European Union” said Al-Ghabra.
He added that while Western countries classify Hamas as a terrorist organization, Ankara does not, so Hamas can raise money in Turkey, operate easily, and be welcomed in Turkish territory.
Hamas’ actions in Turkey are not only in violation of international sanctions and laws, said Al-Ghabra, but also in violation of local Turkish laws regarding terrorism, money laundering, collecting money, and distributing of donations for purposes that are different for which they were collected, and acceptable conditions on the donor to donate.
He noted that all these topics were discussed during the dialogue. “The United States wants to work with Turkey, but there are difficulties because people’s support for the Palestinians turns into support for Hamas, as the Turkish government expressed its admiration for what Hamas did exaggeratedly. There was no need for all the support that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed to Hamas and not enough blame has been put on them for what they did on October 7th.”
The former adviser of the US State Department believes that Washington is not working to change Turkish policy, but rather to change the repercussions or consequences of this policy, so Hamas cannot exploit Turkey as a source of funds to buy weapons, and manufacture rockets, train members everything that is needed by “an armed terrorist organization such as Hamas”.
According to a previous report by the American Reuters news agency, the United States is Israel’s closest ally. It has imposed sanctions on several Turkish entities and individuals to limit Hamas’ financing following the attack on Israel on October 7th.
The US Treasury Under Secretary said that Turkey was linked to previous Hamas work of raising money from donors, investment portfolios, charities, and non-profit organizations.
The issues between Ankara and Washington extend to the Russian sanctions
US Treasury Under Secretary raised the possibility of further US sanctions on Turkish entities suspected of helping Russia avoid sanctions by transporting goods, microchips, semiconductors, and other components used in their war in Ukraine. He explained that over the last 18-24 months, there has been a six-fold increase in the transit of high-priority dual-use components to Russia via Turkey.
Regarding this issue, Hazem Al-Ghabra commented that many Russian citizens have money and investments in Turkish industry, tourism, and commerce and that it is therefore necessary to communicate with the Turkish government to emphasize that the US does not want Turkish land and banks to be used by Russia to avoid US sanctions, as well as Russian businessmen who work directly with the Moscow government.
The US State Department Under Secretary accused Turkey of being insincere regarding its talk about supporting Ukraine. He said the US does not see tangible results in terms of sanctions imposed on Russian entities, while Ankara assures that sanctions are not circumvented on its territory.
Turkish-American relations have witnessed escalating tension over the past months, coming with the issue of blackmail carried out by the Turkish president to approve Sweden’s membership in NATO, as well as the issue of helping Russian bodies to evade US sanctions. Then came the problem of Turkish support for Hamas, adding insult to injury, in such a way that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited many countries in the region in the context of dealing with the situation in Gaza, ignoring Turkey.