Turkey’s Dangerous Game

• Turks supplying vital support to enemies of America, Russia.

By Richard Walker —

In the corridors of power in Europe, especially among certain North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, there is growing anger and concern that Turkey, a fellow NATO member, is playing a dangerous game by arming extreme Islamic militias.

Some senior intelligence figures believe Turkey’s secret role, in conjunction with the Saudis, to supply weapons to the Islamic State (ISIS), the al Nusra Front and similar groups runs contrary to the interests of NATO members. The Turks and Saudis are effectively backing the same groups the United States and its allies are fighting across the Middle East.

One NATO intelligence asset described Turkey’s role this way to AMERICAN FREE PRESS: “It’s like we have a traitor in our midst doing his best to thwart our efforts by supplying our enemy with weapons to kill us.”

Turkey, like Saudi Arabia, is a Sunni nation that has been determined to destroy the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria—even if it means its actions will lead to U.S. deaths. Turkey’s neighbor, Russia, has its own concerns about what it sees as a potent threat emerging from Turkey’s warmongering.

A Russian intelligence source, who has spoken to this writer in the past, had this warning: “Just like NATO we have been watching Turkey very closely. It is clear to us its support for extreme militias is a problem for everyone. We have evidence the Turks are so closely tied to ISIS and the al Nusra Front [that] they are not monitoring the movement of fighters from those groups exiting Syria through Turkey to Europe. Turkey can’t have it both ways. It can’t arm these people and then expect them to put aside their instinct to launch attacks across the European continent.”

A retired British diplomat, who worked for a time at NATO headquarters, told this newspaper, on condition of anonymity, that there had been recommendations from some members to restrict Turkey’s access to NATO intelligence about the Middle East out of fear that it would find its way into the wrong hands.

“Turkey has two faces,” he told this writer. “It is acting in a way that threatens Europe. It is not doing proper diligence in monitoring outfits that are planning attacks on the West. There are some of us who are convinced Turkey has turned a blind eye to the traffic of extremists through its territory. That is very disturbing.”

When my source referred to Turkey having two faces, he added later that there is a classified file in Washington, shared with some NATO members, detailing the fact Turkey had a shadow “government” that handled the arming of Sunni extremists with the aim of bringing down Assad and weakening other enemies, namely the Kurds in Kurdistan, Iraq, Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, those latter three being Shiite nations.

Turkey’s objectives fall directly into line with the overall sectarian aims of the Saudis, who have financed every extreme Sunni group across the globe and preach that Shiites and Christians are apostates.

Since 2012, Turkey’s shadow government, composed mainly of retired intelligence and military figures, has been using the expertise of organized crime syndicates to move weapons and other supplies to Sunni terrorists. It operates with the knowledge, if not connivance, of the central government, the Turkish military and the country’s intelligence arm.

Washington is concerned that, if this cabal acquired access to NATO intelligence on ISIS, al Nusra and other groups, it could use this information to alert terrorists to U.S. and NATO military strategy in the region.

The Turks have also been providing medical care for ISIS and al-Nusra fighters within Turkey.

It is estimated that anywhere from 10% to 15% of ISIS ranks are filled with Turkish citizens.

Richard Walker is the pen name of a former N.Y. news producer.