Syria's deputy FM says Turkish mafia boss' allegations on Turkey's aid to al Nusra are true

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Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Bashar Jafaari has commented on Turkish mafia leader Sedat Peker's allegations on Turkey's aid to jihadists in Syria, saying that all of his claims are true. 

Peker on May 30 claimed that Turkey sent weapons to al-Nusra in Syria in 2015 through SADAT, a shady paramilitary group formed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's former advisor. 

Jafaari said that the Syrian government has information on "Erdoğan regime's abuses." 

"We have sent 108 confidential letters containing precise information on the relationship between thousands of terrorists coming to Syria from Turkey and on groups active in Syria with Erdoğan's regime to the United Nations Security Council, general secretary, and subcommissions on anti-terror," Jafaari told Deutsche Welle's Turkish service on June 23. 

"I would like to state that I confirm everything that Mr. Sedat Peker said," he added. 

Jafaari was asked whether the Syrian government has documents on Peker's allegations on Turkish officials' illegal trade relations with various armed groups in Syria. 

"What Mr. Sedat Peker said about the Erdoğan regime, including his own family members, being involved in the stealing of our oil, natural gas, minerals, and grains are true," the diplomat said. 

"We all witnessed the stealing of our oil and natural gas in 2015 and 2016, even by ISIS, organized by Erdoğan's son," he added. 

Peker's allegations

Peker, a pan-Turkist and Turanist organized crime boss who fled Turkey in early 2020 to avoid prosecution, has been releasing YouTube videos that include serious allegations, including murders, against current and former politicians in a bid to take revenge for the operations launched into his organization.

Although mostly infuriated due to being sidelined, Peker, an ally-turned-foe of the government, repeatedly says he releases the videos as a reaction against police officers raiding his house and pointing guns towards his wife and little daughters.

The mafia boss on May 30 said that his organization decided to send military equipment, including drones, to the Turkmen rebels in Syria's Bayırbucak region after National Intelligence Agency (MİT) trucks filled with weapons bound for Syrian jihadists were stopped by security forces near the border back in 2014.

Peker said that sending aid to the Turkmens would lift the society's spirits and that he talked to a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy on the issue.

According to Peker, the deputy, whose name was kept hidden by the mafia leader, conveyed Peker's wishes to higher authorities and that he was granted permission to send trucks filled with said equipment in 2015.

"They said, 'Let's send additional trucks to Syria.' Our trucks were sent to Syria as aid trucks and we posed for pictures with them," he said.

"However, there were other trucks sent to Syria under my name. We thought that they were sent to the Turkmen rebels in another region. We knew they were carrying weapons, we're not kids. That was appropriate," Peker said, before making his bombshell allegation.

According to Peker, the sending of the trucks wasn't organized by the MİT or the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), but by SADAT, which is often dubbed as Erdoğan's parallel army.

"A group within SADAT organized this," Peker said.

SADAT, officially the SADAT International Defense Consultancy, describes itself on its website as "the first and the only company in Turkey that internationally provides consultancy and military training services at the international defense and interior security sector."

It was founded by Adnan Tanrıverdi and has been a shady organization due to numerous reports on it training jihadists in Syria and Libya.

Illegal oil trade

In the same video, Peker made accusations on illegal trade with Syria, as he said, "Let's open the first box of Pandora."

The mafia leader said that one has to apply to Presidential Head of Administrative Affairs Metin Kıratlı to do trade with Syria.

"I'm not talking about deliveries consisting of several trucks. I'm talking about those worth billions of dollars, including crude oil, tea, sugar and second-hand cars," he said, adding that once Kıratlı grants permission, one has to get the approval of pro-government businessmen Murat Sancak and Ramazan Öztürk.

According to Peker, the next step is to get the approval of Abu Abdurrahman, a senior al-Nusra militant responsible for the jihadists' finances.

"The trade is currently carried out this way," Peker said, noting that he objected to aiding al-Nusra at the time because they were fighting with the Turkmens.

Turkey's alleged aid to the jihadists in Syria was a major controversy in 2015, with Russia saying in December 2015 that it had proof of Turkey purchasing oil from ISIS-controlled territory. The Russian Defense Minister at the time accused Erdoğan and his family of being involved in the illegal oil trade.

The MİT trucks case has also been a major scandal, since footage showed the trucks filled with weapons, but the government was quick to jail journalists Can Dündar and Erdem Gül from the daily Cumhuriyet for reporting it.

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