Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has been questioned over Turkey’s links to Al Qaida in Syria.

The parliamentary opposition has formally submitted a request for the Erdogan government to detail alleged links with Al Qaida-aligned militias in Syria.

The opposition has sought to determine whether the purported Turkish aid facilitated war crimes by Islamist rebels, particularly the Nusra Front for the Defense of the Levant.

“Do you think that the foreign policy you are pursuing in Syria is responsible for the crimes committed by Al Qaida-linked groups such as Al Nusra?” Veli Agbaba, a parliamentarian from the main opposition Republican People’s Party, asked.

The parliamentary demand came amid reports in both Ankara and Washington that Turkish intelligence was either tolerating or supporting Al Qaida recruitment and financing for operations in Syria. The reports asserted that authorities were turning a blind eye to recruitment of young Turks for Al Qaida militias.

“It is known that the Turkey-Syria border has no security,” Agbaba said. “At this point, do you think that Turkey will be accused of committing crimes against humanity and war crimes for providing weapons and other supplies to opposition groups — which is claimed in HRW’s report?”

Erdogan aides have several times denied any Turkish support for Nusra or the new Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. But human rights groups asserted that Turkish authorities were allowing Al Qaida rebels to transport weapons and fighters into Syria and then return for medical treatment.

Agbaba also cited the U.S. Human Rights Watch, which asserted in an Oct. 11 report that Turkey was a leading facilitator of Islamist rebel militias that routinely abduct and torture civilians. HRW urged the Erdogan government to increase patrols along the 900-kilometer Turkish border with Syria.

“According to Syrian security officials, media reports, Western diplomats, and observations by journalists and humanitarian workers, foreign fighters in these groups enter Syria from Turkey, from which they also smuggle their weapons and obtain money and other supplies, and to which they retreat for medical treatment,” HRW said in a report titled “You Can Still See Their Blood.”

Agbaba addressed his questions to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, deemed an ally of Erdogan. The opposition deputy, in remarks supported by Kurdish and Western sources, suggested that the Foreign Ministry was ignoring Al Qaida’s use of Turkey as a haven.

“Is there any work being done by the Foreign Ministry over the claims that Turkish citizens have entered Syria from Turkey’s eastern and southeastern provinces and have participated in crimes carried out by Al Qaida-linked groups in Syria?” Agbaba asked. “Is the silence of the Foreign Ministry over the crimes carried out by Al Qaida-linked groups in Syria the result of the ‘precious isolation’ policy of Turkey?”

For its part, the government has denied any Turkish link to Al Qaida. Officials dismissed allegations that Turkey was cooperating with Nusra or ISIL in arms and other smuggling.

“The Turkish republic would never open a border gate on the demand of a terrorist organization,” Interior Minister Muammer Guler said.

The Kurdish community has echoed allegations of a Turkish-Al Qaida
link. The High Kurdish Council in Syria, which met the Turkish Foreign
Ministry, asserted that more than 50 percent of the rebel militias supported
by Turkey were attacking civilians.

“More than half of the groups which Turkey supports have come under the
control of gangs,” council spokesman Ilham Ahmed said. “The situation is
very dire, and if precautions are not taken these groups will create serious
problems mainly for Turkey.”

  Ahmet Davutoglu, Human Rights Watch, Nusra Front, Recep Erdogan, Republican People’s Party, Turkish opposition wants to know if war crimes were committed with aid sent to Al Qaida fighters in Syria, Veli Agbaba