Turkey supports Iranian mullahs’ mercenaries in Syria

Nora Bandari

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made Turkey an ally and a haven for terrorists and fugitives, and in this regard, he visited Qatar on July 2 to gain funding for Brotherhood charities in Europe.

The Turkish president has also supported his Iranian ally, which is suffering from a severe economic crisis, by supporting Iranian mercenaries in Syria.

Support for Iranian mercenaries

During an interview on the Egyptian channel TEN on July 5, Turkish opposition journalist Sayyid Jalil revealed that Erdogan takes money from businessmen and transfers it to Iran through his son and some ministers in his government via Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab to support the Iranian mercenaries in Syria. Jalil stated that Erdogan had seized the property of the opposition Hizmet movement, which amounted to $14 billion.

The Iranian regime has exported mercenaries to Syria, including Iranians and Shiites from Afghanistan and Pakistan, claiming to “defend Shiite shrines” there, while Iran’s Hezbollah has also brought these mercenaries to its locations in Syria. The primary role of these mercenaries is to support the Syrian regime target Syrian opponents.

In November 2018, some Syrian media outlets announced that the Iranian militia numbered about 85,000 fighters, working under the leadership of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They raise sectarian slogans, after which massacres and war crimes are committed, and all this with the aim of implementing the Iranian project to export of ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih under the framework of “exporting the revolution”.

Erdogan’s goals

It seems that the Turkish president’s support for Iran in Syria has hidden goals, as Erdogan had previously criticized Iran in February 2016 in a speech before an economic forum, saying that he had received information that Iranian-backed forces in Syria are carrying out “fierce massacres” and demanding the United Nations make an effort to prevent an ethnic cleansing in Syria. At that time, Erdogan stressed that his country would only be patient about the crisis in Syria to a certain point and then would be forced to intervene.

It is clear that Erdogan does not want to leave the Syrian “pie” to the mullahs, wanting his own share in the country. Therefore, since 2016 until now, there have been Turkish moves in cooperation with both Iran and Russia, claiming that they are making efforts to communicate for a political solution to the Syrian crisis that started in2011.

One of the goals behind the Turkish president’s support for Iran, which is currently suffering from an economic crisis due to the US economic sanctions imposed on Tehran since 2018, is the presence of Turkey’s arms in Syria to facilitate Erdogan’s plans to reestablish the Ottoman caliphate after he supported the terrorist militias in Libya by sending Syrian mercenaries to fight there and supplying the terrorist Government of National Accord’s (GNA) militias with money and Turkish weapons. Now he has begun to turn his sights towards Syria by supporting Iran.

It should be noted that the Iranian regime, which has had many cultural, political and military tools in Syria since 2011, would not let its Turkish ally penetrate into Syria without Tehran’s permission. This is what Iran is currently doing, by laying down conditions for the Turkish president in exchange for its support in Syria, which is to provide appropriate support. In the end, a battle could occur in the near future between Turkey and Iran on Syrian soil.