Turkey, terror, tirades: Paris attacks, Erdogan

The European Union has announced it is partnering on counter-terrorism projects with Middle East countries — including Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria, and the Gulf states — in the wake of the Islamist terror attacks in Paris at the Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket. But is Turkey a suitable partner for that initiative?

Turkey’s inclusion in the EU’s counter-terrorism plan comes despite longstanding reports of jihadists using the Turkish border to cross into countries where they join Muslim terrorists. In particular, a Turkish official recently admitted that Hayat Boumeddiene —girlfriend of Amedy Coulibaly, the Kosher supermarket terrorist — had crossed into Syria through Turkey. Boumeddiene was being pursued by authorities as a suspected accomplice in the attack.

Since Boumeddiene was not listed on any no-fly list, there is no way that Turkey could have known to watch her, according to Michael Koplow, program director of the Israel Institute think tank. But at the same time, Koplow said, “There’s no question that Turkey has turned a blind eye in a lot of ways to the rise of ISIS (Islamic State) in Syria … and jihadists who [are] crossing into Syria over their border.”

“In the past few months it seems that Turkey has tried to crack down on [these] jihadi highways to Syria a bit, but it’s difficult,” Koplow told JNS.org. “Turkey has an extremely long border with Syria. It’s nearly impossible to police all things, so people are going to get through.”

Turkey, added Koplow, “doesn’t seem to recognize the extent of the [border] problem, or at least doesn’t want to acknowledge it.”

Western nations, and Israel in particular, should be concerned that Turkey is “clearly supporting radical extremist groups in the Middle East, be it in Syria, in Libya, among the Palestinians, [or] of course, helping Hamas,” said Efraim Inbar, a professor of political studies at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University and director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA).