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Beheadings and Bikinis – Turkey’s dangerous liaisons
By Sheri Laizer,
13 November 2014
Bashar al-Assad was not incorrect soon after the ‘Arab spring’ took hold in Syria in April 2011 in
claiming that ‘foreigners’ were aiming to take over the country. Looking at the footage emerging
at that time it was evident that those fighters with long beards crying “Allah Akbar’ as they
launched their attacks were not Syrian democrats demanding greater democracy; they were the
same branch of Sunni extremists that had undermined swathes of Iraq as well the Palestinian
refugee camps in Lebanon. Indeed, inroads made by the Sunni extremists led to the Lebanese
army besieging Nahr el Bared camp to uproot them in 2007. Meanwhile, they made gains in
Syria, Turkey and Iraq whilst pursuing their goals against Hezbollah and ally, Bashar al-Assad in
Syria inside Lebanon.
If today, heads were severed and placed on spikes outside the city walls ringing the ancient
citadels of Damascus, Aleppo, and sprawling semi-desert towns like Kobani few would be
surprised given that large sectors of the human population choose to spiral down into organised
barbarism comparable with that of medieval times.
Beheadings inspire terror and make headlines. It must not be forgotten that beheadings were an
effective tactic deployed against Westerners, in particular, but also Iraqi locals like taxi drivers
after the insurgency got underway in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the
Ba’ath Party.
In 2004, captives were often filmed and footage of their beheading soon after death threats made
were then disseminated in the media along with further warnings. On 18 September, 2004, the
Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") group headed by the late Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, ‘released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner. The
kidnappers said they would kill the men within 48 hours if their demands for the release of Iraqi
women prisoners held by coalition forces were not met. Armstrong was killed on 20 September
when the deadline expired, Hensley 24 hours later, and Kenneth Bigley over two weeks later,
despite the attempted intervention of the Muslim Council of Britain and the indirect intervention
of the British government. Videos of the killings were posted on websites and blogs.1 The tactic
exploited currently by ISIS has the same effect.
Many thousands of survivors of ISIS’s barbarism suffered as their towns and villages were
overrun in Iraq and Syria are either still fleeing, eking out a desperate existence in miserable
camps or courageously facing down a bigoted foe, brainwashed into delusions of gaining
paradise through martyrdom whilst considering human life and values as nothing.
Syria in crisis – Kurds embattled yet again
According to an educated Syrian Kurdish commentator in the still free, Kurdish city of Qamishly,
Syria, who spoke with me on conditions of anonymity, “Kurdish society is now more divided
more than at any previous time. Before the uprising there were sixteen political parties, now
there are thirty-two in addition to more than 40 independent groups classified as "civil society
organizations." More importantly, there's a vertical and horizontal dichotomy in Kurdish society
of Apocus (followers of Ocalan and the PKK) and Barzanies (followers of Massoud Barzani and
the KDP).”
1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3726846.stm

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I asked him to say more about the PKK and its sister group, the PYD as an inside observer and a
Syrian Kurd, rather than Kurd from Turkey. He replied: “During the blockade of Kurdish areas
by ISIS and other opposition groups, owing to the PYD/YPG’s coordination with the Assad
regime many Kurds soon found themselves jobless and were obliged to look for work outside
Syria. Some chose to migrate because of obligatory recruitment orders issued by the PYD's local
administration. PYD activists would go to the workplaces and homes of those known not to
support them and would demand that they take up arms for the organisation or show financial
support.” External sources confirm that the PYD enacted a ‘conscription law’ in July:
“A “conscription law” was ratified earlier this week by the legislative council of the Auto-
Administration in northeastern Syria (led by the Democratic Union Party “PYD” and other allied
parties. The law stipulates “the duty of self-defence in the Syrian areas which falls under the rule
of the “Democratic Auto-Administration”. The law obliges families living in the region to send
one of their 18-30 year-old members to the defence duty, which lasts for six months, either
continuously or intermittently over one year time... 2
Kurdish town of Kobani increasingly overrun by ISIS group
By 7 October 2014, the security and future of the residents of Kobani, a large Kurdish town close
to the border with Turkey hung in the balance, while Turkish tanks remained ranged passively
on the sidelines simply watching – would Turks come to the rescue of Syrian Kurds? No, indeed,
the reverse was true and could have been predicted. Turkey likened the PYD to the PKK and
declared it a terrorist group, preferring ISIS to Assad.
The Turkish military also attacked PKK positions at the same time as Iraqi Kurds were eventually
allowed by the Turkish administration to send reinforcements to the Syrian Kurds battling ISIS in
Kobani. However, Turkey had long been allowing ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra fighters access to
Syria across the Turkish border, according to numerous eye -witnesses including former IS
fighters. A former (reluctant) recruit sidelined by ISIS, an Iraqi Kurdish communications
technician told Newsweek on 7 November: “ISIS commanders told us to fear nothing at all
because there was full cooperation with the Turks,” said Omer of crossing the border into
Turkey, “and they reassured us that nothing will happen, especially when that is how they
regularly travel from Raqqa and Aleppo to the Kurdish areas further northeast of Syria because it
was impossible to travel through Syria as YPG [National Army of Syrian Kurdistan] controlled
most parts of the Kurdish region.”3
ISIS and the Turkish Deep State
A number of ISIS commanders are said to speak Turkish. It must not be forgotten that Turkey has
in the past been home to various Sunni extremist Islamist groups. At a certain point, the interests
of such Islamists, the AK Party government and ultra-nationalists may also coincide – especially
in their attitude to the Kurds.
The Ergenekon trials established that the Turkish ‘Deep State’ - an inner core establishment
including former military personnel and nationalist businessmen, journalists and politicians
conspired to murder designated enemies, establish their own government through a military
coup and in service of those ends hatched a number of finely detailed plots to stir up civic strife
within Turkey and cause agitation with some of Turkey’s neighbours, such as Greece. Minorities
were also targeted: non-Muslims including Greek Orthodox remnants in Turkey, Armenians, and
Kurds. Even some judges and prosecutors where these were not already securely alongside
2
http://www.mesop.de/2014/07/19/conscription-law-pyd-calls-on-syria-kurds-to-defend-dignity/
3
http://www.newsweek.com/isis-and-turkey-cooperate-destroy-kurds-former-isis-member-
reveals-turkish-282920

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Ergenekon were targeted from the list of designated opponents.4
In service of these shared goals, Islamists, secularists, military figures of high rank and political
figures worked clandestinely behind the scenes. Some 275 Ergenekon defendants were sentenced
in August 2013.5
Time magazine observed: “The defendants were charged with forming a clandestine ultra-
nationalist “terrorist organization,” dubbed Ergenekon, the name of a mythic valley in Central
Asia where, in lore, the Turkic peoples originated. Their alleged plan was to feed social unrest by
staging high-profile assassinations and bomb blasts, creating a pretext for the military to step in
and take control.”
The Turkish military has been fighting the PKK for three decades: its ethos remains unchanged
despite Erdogan’s ‘peace’ negotiations. MIT operatives have infiltrated ISIS to the extent of
planting operatives to further Turkish goals in both Syria and Iraq.
Islamist extremists have been used in the past, such as with the deployment of Turkish
Hezbollah, a murderous terrorist organization with links to the Deep State responsible for many
murders throughout the Kurdish southeast in the 1990s.
Turkey’s passivity in relation to the life and death struggle of the Kurds in Syria is therefore
hardly surprising, and should, indeed, have been foreseen by Western politicians who instead
sought to coerce Turkey into taking military action against ISIS in Kobani.
Conversely, wounded fighters from ISIS have reportedly been treated all along in private
hospitals in Turkey, according to, among others, the Co-President of the PYD.
Turkish military and ex-military figures are also said to be fighting within and alongside the
Islamist groups. On occasion, Turkish military interrogators have dealt with PYD captives
speaking in Turkish. Many ISIS fighters have been found carrying Turkish documentation.
Fundamentalism erodes freedoms for women in Turkey
Recep Tayibb Erdogan and the AK Party government have been responsible for Turkey’s drift
into fundamentalism. One glimpse at the attire of his wife stood at his side in public, sheathed in
a tight turban and floor length, long sleeved gown would make Ataturk shudder in his grave.
Indeed, women on Turkey’s beaches have been threatened by Islamist fundamentalists with
increasing frequency this year, handing out threatening leaflets for them to cover up.6 The UK
Foreign Office warned British tourists against the risks of attack and kidnap in Turkey this
summer. The Turkish Dogan News Agency/Hurriyet Daily News observed:
“On the sandy beaches of Kaynarca, two men wearing thobes and kufis distributed brochures to
beach-goers, offering advice about correct Islamic deportment.
The two men, who were accompanied by a child, said they were members of an Islamic
foundation from the ultra-conservative neighborhood of Çarşamba in Istanbul’s Fatih district.
4
http://ergenekonisourreality.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/ergenekonisourreality-final.pdf
5
http://world.time.com/2013/08/05/how-the-ergenekon-verdicts-may-deepen-turkeys-political-
divide/
6
http://pamelageller.com/2014/06/bikini-jihad-sharia-enforcers-hit-beaches-turkey-tell-women-
cover.html/

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The brochure, titled “The lady that God wants” contained a total of 72 points, including the
following instructions: “The lady should be covered; she should not shake hands with male
strangers; she should not go outside without asking permission from her husband; she should
not go to weddings where there is music; and she should not sit in public areas.”
Domestic violence remains high throughout Turkey, frequently justified on religious grounds. 7
ISIS links to MIT, the military and ‘deep state’.
ISIS captured several diplomats and Turkish citizens when they successfully stormed the Turkish
Consulate in the course of taking control of Mosul on 11 June this year.
Although, to the public eye, the Turkish hostages were seemingly threatened with death like
other ISIS captives, on 20 September, Erdogan secured their release unharmed. 8 Indeed, a trade
off took place. Turkish intelligence (MİT) agents managed to escort 49 captives out of Syria and
back to Turkey earlier today” ran one report9. In return, Turkey released some 180 ISIS fighters
close to Kobani, transporting them in military trucks just like it transports its own soldiers.
Interestingly, some 32 Turkish lorry drivers seized in Mosul some days before the diplomats
were also freed unharmed and then too, no details disclosed.10 Turkish PM, Ahmet Davutoglu
stated “their release was the result of the Turkish intelligence agency's "own methods", and not a
"point operation" involving special forces. He gave no further details.”11 MIT enjoyed direct links
with JITEM and Turkish Hezbollah in the past.
Other commentators on developments in the region have also reported on the active support,
arming and indeed freedom of operation and freedom of movement of pro-ISIS and ISIS militants
by the Turkish state.
Daniel Pipes, in a list of articles compiled on the subject in his blog cited Ahmed Kurdi, the leader
of the Kurdish Front Brigade emphasising that they had definite proof and documentation of this
support. He added that some of the Kurdish Front's fighters and supporters who had been
captured by ISIS had been interrogated by Turkish officers, saying: "all our people said that
Turkish officers had taken part in interrogation. This proves support is continuing. They pretend
to be in conflict with this organisation, but this is not true."
Pipes included citations from an important article published in Aydınlık newspaper: "MİT'ten
IŞİD'e paralı asker (MIT’s paid soldiers with ISIS) with an English translation:
“One group of retired Turkish soldiers from the Special Forces Command are reportedly fighting
together with militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) in Iraq, a fact that
shockingly even PM Erdoğan knows.
“The soldiers are believed to be joining ISIS in exchange for high wages. Some of the anonymous
colleagues of the soldiers have identified them from images taken during combat. The
investigations have discovered that the Turkish Intelligence Organization (MİT by its Turkish
initials) sent the retired soldiers to Iraq to support the terrorism in the region.
7
http://www.kurdmedia.com/article.aspx?id=16953
8
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/article4227988.ece
9
http://warincontext.org/2014/09/20/turkey-somehow-secures-release-of-49-hostages-held-by-
isis/
10
Thirty-two Turkish lorry drivers who were seized in Mosul on 6 June were released a month
later. No details of the negotiations to secure their release have been revealed.
11
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/20/isis-releases-hostages-turkish-consulate-mosul

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"... MİT controls the operation. They did the same in Syria, as well. They also took part in the
attack by the opposition forces in Keseb. Most of those with masks are from this group. They
keep their masks on even in hot weather to avoid being recognized. They are now side by side
with ISIS in Mosul. They act like legionaries. It has become explicit when some took their masks
off...As it can be imagined, the incidents of the Turkish flag being taken down in Diyarbakır and
Turkish diplomats kidnapped in Mosul were all in accordance with the plans of MİT.”12
Some 10% of ISIS fighters are considered to be recruits from Turkey according to opposition CHP
Konya deputy, Atilla Kart, in Today’s Zaman magazine. The piece is headed “CHP’s Kart reveals
high level of participation in ISIL from Turkey’. 13
Some of ISIS’s funding also comes from the sale of oil taken from Mosul in Iraq and from
northern Syria refined on the Turkish border and converted into cash in Turkey, estimated to be
worth some $800 million.14
PKK veteran, Cemil Bayik, spoke with Patrick Cockburn of the Independent on Armistice Day, 11
November, warning of ISIS intentions to move on Afrin where the group has already begun
threatening the Kurdish inhabitants.
“Mr Bayik is careful to stress that the PYD and the YPG, the People’s Defence Units, are not
directly controlled by him, though he heads the PKK umbrella organisation, the KCK, which
unites PKK affiliates in different countries.”15
The US differentiates between the PYD and PKK allowing US aid to Syria’s embattled Kurds by
means of this legal loophole.
There will be no stopping ISIS unless Turkey alters its policy and wreaks internal changes,
clamping down on extremist Islamist organizations operating freely on its home soil and using
Turkey’s borders as points of transit.
It may well be too late. Secular Turkey is more and more an Islamic state curtailing freedoms and
imposing Islamist dictates in the guise of ‘soft’ Islam while supporting the hardliners in its back
garden.
12
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2014/06/more-on-turkish-support-for-isis
13
http://www.todayszaman.com/national_chps-kart-reveals-high-level-of-participation-in-isil-
from-turkey_357687.html
14
http://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2014/10/14/isis-fighters-killed-by-kurds-were-members-
of-turkish-mit-intelligence-services/
15
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/war-against-isis-pkk-commander-
tasked-with-the-defence-of-syrian-kurds-claims-we-will-save-kobani-9854818.html