Bahrain1 August 20203 min read

General killed for exposing Qatari funding of ISIS

Manama A Turkish general who discovered Qatari involvement in militant groups in Syria, as well as Turkey's role in oil-smuggling op- eration from Syria with ISIS, has been executed, says Nordic Monitor. The bombshell revelations were published by Nordic Research and Monitoring N

Editorial Team Legacy

Published 1 August 2020, 8:00 · Updated 21:52

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General killed for exposing Qatari funding of ISIS

Manama

A Turkish general who discovered Qatari involvement in militant groups in Syria, as well as Turkey’s role in oil-smuggling op- eration from Syria with ISIS, has been executed, says Nordic Monitor.

The bombshell revelations were published by Nordic Research and Monitoring Network citing court testimony of Col. Fırat Alakus of Turkish Special forces Command, OÌˆzel Kuv- vetler KomutanlıgÌ†ı, or OÌˆKK, on March 20, 2019.

In the transcript of the testimony published by the Swedish based network, Alakus reveals that Lt. Gen. Zekai Aksakallı, in charge of the OKK at the time, ordered the assassination of Brig. Gen. Semih Terzi because Terzi discovered that Aksakallı was working secretly with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) in running illegal and clandestine operations in Syria for personal gain while dragging Turkey deeper into the Syrian civil war.

“[Terzi] knew how much of the funding delivered [to Turkey] by Qatar for the purpose of purchasing weapons and ammunition for the opposition was actually used for that and how much of it was actually used by public officials, how much was embezzled,” Col. AlakugÌ† was quoted as saying in the confession by Nordic Monitor.

The report citing Alakus also tells that Qatari case was only one ex- ample of how funds were misdirected and that there were other countries whose funds were also misappropriated.

Terzi, the report says, knew all the dirty dealings of Turkish intelligence and AlakugÌ†, who was in a position to know about secret dealings as head of the OÌˆKK intelligence unit.

Nordic Monitors says part of Terzi’s job was to coordinate actions with MIT, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdo- gan’s confidant Hakan Fidan. He worked closely with the Pentagon on a train and equip programme for Syrian oppo- sition fighters. After noticing that MIT had been trying to pass off radical militants as moderates, he raised an objection and protested the deception, making himself a target of MIT and his boss Aksakallı.

“[Terzi’s murder] had to do with a trap devised by Zekai Aksakallı, who did not want such facts to come out into the open,” Alakus testified.

“Semih Terzi knew very well how the oil taken from ISIS [in Syria] was rerouted [to Turkey]

through Iraq’s [Kurdistan] Regional Government with the help of a prominent local pol- itician [in Kurdistan] and with the cooperation of [Turkish] public officials and using the capabilities of a [Turkish] gov- ernment agency and how much commission was taken,” Alakus explained. “This is why he was the target, Your Honor,” Alakus added.

General killed for exposing Qatari funding of ISIS

Editorial Team Legacy

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