Turkey’s Crackdown On Arms Shipments To Syria Could Help Al Qaeda And Harm Moderate Rebels

Turkey’s embattled government has been accused of suspected weapons shipments to Syria—but tighter border controls could end up harming moderate rebels and helping jihadists.

Al-Qaeda could emerge as the unlikely winner as supplies for more moderate rebels crossing the long border from Turkey into war-torn Syria come under increased scrutiny.

Several arms shipments from Turkey to rebel groups in Syria have been stopped in recent months. In one case, 1,200 Turkish-made mortar shells were discovered inside a Syria-bound truck in November. As fighting between al-Qaeda linked groups and other rebel factions in Syria intensifies, opposition politicians in Ankara are accusing the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of sending arms into the war zone, a charge that the government denies.

But an incident on January 1 challenged that denial and put a new spotlight on cross-border supplies from Turkey into Syria. The publicity could make further arms shipments for moderate rebel groups more difficult, making al-Qaeda stronger in the process, analysts say.

In Turkey, the debate about suspected weapons shipments to Syria has become part of an ongoing confrontation between the government and the judiciary. Erdogan’s government, which is reeling from a major corruption scandal, says anti-government factions in the judiciary are bent on bringing down the prime minister by launching slanderous investigations designed to embarrass his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

In the border incident of January 1, prosecutors tried to search a Syria-bound truck in the border province of Hatay after police received a tip-off saying the vehicle was carrying weapons. When two prosecutors went to search the truck, they were told by agents of Turkey’s intelligence service MIT, who were riding along, that the cargo was a “state secret,” according to a report written by the prosecutors and leaked to the Hurriyet newspaper.

Interior minister Efkan Ala rebuked the prosecutors, saying everybody should mind their own business. One of the prosecutors was transferred to another province several days later, in what was widely seen as a move to punish him. Yasin Aktay, a leading member of the AKP, said the prosecutors in Hatay deliberately created a public incident and “put Turkey in a difficult position.”

Al-Qaeda groups in Syria do not need arms shipments via Turkey because they can rely on deliveries from Iraq.

Ala said the truck, which continued its journey to Syria, was carrying aid for Syrian Turkmen, an ethnic group with links to Turkey. But Huseyin El-Abdullah, a Turkmen leader, told Turkish media there had been no truck from Turkey for his people. Some news reports said the truck was heading towards a region in Syria that does not have a Turkmen population.

That is no surprise, the opposition in Turkey says. It insists the truck incident was the latest example of the government trying to keep arms shipments to Syrian rebels hidden.