The beginning of the broadcast of the drama series about Alija Izetbegović on the state Turkish television TRT 1 in 2018 was intended to create the impression that Bosnia, under the protection of a great Muslim guardian, could breathe a sigh of relief. In many statements and current events related to that period, there was a pronounced emphasis on Bosnia, successfully creating the illusion that the AKP and Erdoğan were caring for and defending its statehood and freedom. The insistence on deep ties between the motherland and the former Ottoman province was not just declarative.
FERUH’S HISTORICAL HOMELAND
Feruh Mushtuer, born in 1971 in the Turkish city of Kütahya, was appointed the first imam of the mosque into which Hagia Sophia, the greatest Orthodox sanctuary from the sixth century, was converted by decree of the President of Turkey. At first glance, this fact did not attract much attention, except for one detail: Feruh is originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as the Sarajevo media proudly emphasized, he was also a “frequent visitor to his historical homeland.” Although his ancestors left Bosnia four generations ago, some connections, especially those that fit into the neo-Ottoman concept of Turkish politics, never become obsolete. This was a time when Erdoğan believed that by reminding of the “Bosnian tragedy” and supporting Bosnia and Kosovo, he would awaken sympathies and strengthen his position among his electorate.
A year later, on August 27, 2021, Erdoğan appeared in Sarajevo as the wedding witness at the marriage of Bakir Izetbegović’s daughter, Jasmina, and her chosen one, Ćamil Humackić. The marriage lasted just as long as Erdoğan’s conviction that by caring for Bosnia, he would secure his political longevity in Turkey.
In the presidential elections at the end of May 2023, Erdoğan narrowly won (52%) in the second round against Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, singing triumphantly: “Bye, bye, bye Kemal,” alluding to the end of the system of the “father of the Turkish Republic,” Kemal Pasha Atatürk, and the defeat of the candidate from the “Republican People’s Party” (CHP).
FROM THE CAMP TO CROCUS CITY
The victory meant a new momentum in Turkey’s territorial aspirations and the activation of intelligence work beyond the country’s borders. On September 23 of the same year, with the help of a strong intelligence structure, military intelligence service, Erdoğan returned to the Caucasus with MIT drones and other powerful military logistics to help Azerbaijan achieve victory in a new, this time one-day war against Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The following year, on March 22, 2024, Moscow was attacked, and a terrorist attack was carried out on Crocus City. Few linked this massacre to the intensification of Turkish intelligence activities in Russia, among Russian Muslims. However, the traces leading to ethnic Tajiks offered new insights for analysis, and it was connected to Ukraine’s military intelligence centers, which, with the help of Turkish authorities, established their bases, training camps, and mobilization centers.
The next week, Erdoğan suffered a significant political defeat in the local elections in Turkey. Supporters of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) achieved the biggest electoral victory since Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came to power two decades ago. The Republican People’s Party (CHP) received 37% of the votes across the country, while Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) won 36%. The AKP remained the strongest force in central Anatolia and some provinces along the Black Sea, but the opposition won the five largest cities in the country – the economic metropolis Istanbul, the capital Ankara, Izmir, Bursa, and Adıyaman, a city that had been severely affected by an earthquake just six months earlier.
DAGESTANIS, GET READY
In such an electoral debacle, it was necessary to cover up the games around Bosnia and the Caucasus. The task was entrusted to the Dagestanis, who carried out a terrorist attack in Makhachkala and Derbent, leaving behind shocking photographs of the dead, videos of the shooting, heavy machinery, and a burned synagogue. In the terrorist attacks on June 23, 2024, in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent, at least 20 people were killed, most of them police officers. Additionally, 46 people were injured. The targets of the attacks were an Orthodox church and a synagogue, and in the capital Makhachkala, the church and the traffic police station are located near the synagogue. In Dagestan, a republic of the Russian Federation, June 24 was declared a day of mourning.
The attacks unsurprisingly had Islamist iconography, emphasizing anti-Semitic and anti-Christian political beliefs. It was later established that among the attackers were Adil and Osman Omarov, whose father, Magomed Omarov, was a prominent regional leader. Of course, to highlight the Islamist origin of the terrorism, the perpetrators left torn, warlike quotes from the Quran at the synagogue doors.
There is no doubt that this terrorist attack is connected to the Ukrainian war and the Ukrainian secret service VSU, but the question arises of who and how coordinates the Muslims of Russia, especially those in the Caucasus, and logistically plans the organization of terrorist attacks. Saying that the answer is militarized Turkey, which wants to confirm its status as a strong regional power with its potentials, is not hasty. Especially considering that Turkey and Western geopolitical interests are connected by two bridges – the “NATO” alliance and the terrorist organization “Muslim Brotherhood.” Also, it should not be overlooked that the American “war on terror” from 2001 and the so-called Arab Spring of 2011 would not have been initiated or successfully carried out without active Turkish participation in them.
Turkish military-political potentials through Benghazi enabled the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the killing of Saddam Hussein, and then, ten years later, the coup in Tunisia and the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the entry of the Muslim Brotherhood into Egypt, the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, and the rise to power of the terrorist Mohamed Morsi. This was followed by the destruction of Libya, the conquest of Tripoli, the killing of the head of state, Muammar Gaddafi, the attack on Syria, the attempt to forcibly overthrow Bashar al-Assad, and then the formation of the terrorist organization ISIS – the so-called Islamic State. The handwriting of Turkish and Western structures in the destabilization of Yemen and the murder of the president, the unifier Abdullāh Ali Saleh, by the Americans was also evident.
Turkey’s role in the destruction of the Middle East, the removal of secular regimes and pan-Arab socialists, as well as the maintenance of a state of hopeless and senseless war that lasts in all these countries, has never been seriously considered from a military, intelligence, and security perspective. Even today, Al-Qaeda and ISIS represent a joint fundamental Turkish-American-British project to intimidate nations and states with the aim of causing crises through terrorist violence and actions of militant Islamism.
Although it held all the strings in its hands, Western spotlights never turned on Turkey. On the contrary, Western propaganda successfully named Saudi Arabia as the bearer of Wahhabi thought, teaching, and practice. Not coincidentally. It is precisely through Wahhabism, as the first step in creating the structure, that Western services operate through Turkish intelligence and security networks – identifying potentials, conducting recruitment, training, and arming. Without a strong Muslim state as a partner, the West could never create a terror industry with trained soldiers of global violence. Turkey’s role does not end there. Today, official Ankara opens space for the unhindered operation of Ukrainian services on Turkish territory. Kyiv security services use Turkish documents or “reworked” papers of some of the 30 million Russian Muslims for their operations.
In the puzzle, we currently have several key words and moments – trips to Turkey, contacts in Azerbaijan, Turkish documents, and Muslim names. It is not difficult to deduce the solution. One piece of the puzzle certainly belongs to Dagestan, where the answer to the question of the connection between the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks and Turkey’s intelligence structure lies.
Author: Dzevad Galijasevic
