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The ISIS Ambassador to Turkey
Extraordinary Interview with ISIS Amir Abu Mansour - by @AnneSpeckhard & Ardian Shajkovci . He explains Foreign fighters came through Turkey & ISIS relations w Turkish Intelligence & Military.
Extraordinary Interview with ISIS Amir Abu Mansour - by @AnneSpeckhard & Ardian Shajkovci . He explains Foreign fighters came through Turkey & ISIS relations w Turkish Intelligence & Military.
Abu Mansour explains how he functioned as ISIS's ambassador to Turkey: “I passed the borders & they let me pass. [At the border,] the Turks always sent me a car & I’m protected. A team of two to three people from our side were with me. I was in charge of our team.”
“There were some agreements & understandings between Turkish intelligence & ISIS emni [security] about border gates, for the people who got injured,” Abu Mansour continues. “I had direct meetings with the MIT [the Turkish National Intelligence Org], many meetings with them.”
When we ask who exactly in the Turkish government was meeting ISIS members, he states, “There were teams. Some represent the Turkish intel, some represent the Turkish Army. There were teams from 3-5 different groups.
Most meetings were in Turkey in military posts or their offices. It depended on the issue. Sometimes we meet each week. It depends on what was going on. Most of the meetings were close to the borders, some in Ankara, some in Gaziantep.”
Turkish Ambitions in Syria
The benefit to Turkey, according to Abu Mansour, was “Turkey wants to control its borders – to control North Syria. Actually they had ambitions not only for controlling the Kurds. They wanted all the north, from Kessabto Mosul.”
The benefit to Turkey, according to Abu Mansour, was “Turkey wants to control its borders – to control North Syria. Actually they had ambitions not only for controlling the Kurds. They wanted all the north, from Kessabto Mosul.”
“This is the Islamists’ ideology of Erdogan,” Abu Mansour explains, adding, “They wanted all of the north of Syria. That is what the Turkish side said [they wanted], to control the north of Syria, because they have their real ambitions.
Actually, we talked about what Erdogan said in public [versus what he really desired.] This part of Syria was part of the Ottoman state. Before the agreement following WWI, Aleppo and Mosul were part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
The agreement Sykes Picot [in which they lost these regions] was signed for one hundred years. In our meetings, we talked about re-establishing the Ottoman Empire. This was the vision of Turkey.”
Abu Mansour makes it clear that what he was told in his meetings with Turks was put forward as President Erdogan’s vision, but that it was not shared by all: “I cannot say this is the vision of the whole Turkish gov. Many are against interfering to bring this project to reality.
Abu Mansour continues, “Since they are a NATO state they cannot make NATO angry against them. So, they cannot deal directly with the situation, but they want to destroy the Kurdish ummah, so they deal with the situation [via ISIS] and get benefits from the Islamic State.”
On the side of ISIS, he explains, “It’s a big benefit to Dawlah, as they could protect our back. Approximately 300 km of our border is with them. Turkey is considered a road for us for medications, food – so many things enter in the name of aid. The gates were open.”
Weapons
“No one can accuse the Turkish government of giving us weapons. Actually, we didn’t need to get weapons from Turkey.” The Free Syrian Army soldiers would trade their weapons for a pack of cigarettes.
“No one can accuse the Turkish government of giving us weapons. Actually, we didn’t need to get weapons from Turkey.” The Free Syrian Army soldiers would trade their weapons for a pack of cigarettes.
“Anti-government Syrian people provided us wi weapons; many mafias and groups traded weapons to us.” “In Syria the oil was enough to pay for the weapons and everything needed,” Abu Mansour continues. “[Our oil revenues] were more than $14 million per month.
The Agreement for ISIS Wounded to be Treated in Turkish hospitals.
It was a ‘state-to-state’ agreement regarding our wounded. I negotiated these agreements. For the wounded, medical and other supplies to pass, and I negotiated about water also, the Euphrates.”
It was a ‘state-to-state’ agreement regarding our wounded. I negotiated these agreements. For the wounded, medical and other supplies to pass, and I negotiated about water also, the Euphrates.”
“Actually, we [Syria] had an agreement with Turkey for 400 cubic meters per second [of water] into Syria. After the revolution, they started to decrease the quantity of water to 150 cubic meters per second. After our negotiations [in 2014] it returned to 400. We needed it.
Has Avrat @hasavrat does a good job of pointing out how Abu Mansour inflated his role in ISIS in his interview with @AnneSpeckhard -the Director of the Internt'l Center for Study of Violent Extremism. He got many things wrong about Turkey.
