Fatma Zibak
The name of a Turkish citizen who was wanted by Turkey due to his suspected links to al-Qaeda has been removed from the Interior Ministry’s “Terrorist Wanted List” after he was appointed as a brigadier general by the transitional government in Syria.
Ömer Çiftçi, who was born in the southern province of Osmaniye in 1980, according to the list on the ministry website, has recently been appointed as a brigadier general in the Syrian army.
Journalist Alican Uludağ from broadcaster Now TV was the first to break the news about the removal of Çiftçi’s name from the ministry’s wanted list, claiming that Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya ordered the removal of Çiftçi’s name.
Çiftçi was known by the alias “Mukhtar Turki” in Syria. He was listed in the “red category,” under which a reward of up to TL 20 million ($566,275) is offered for information that leads to the apprehension of the suspect being sought.
The transitional government was appointed by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, responsible for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power last month following an 11-day rebel offensive.
The Syrian Defense Ministry recently announced the promotions in a letter signed by Ahmad al-Sharaa, also known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, who became Syria’s new de facto leader and commander-in-chief of the Syrian armed forces after the fall of the Assad regime.
Formerly known as the al-Nusra Front, the HTS, designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and the US, was the main affiliate of al-Qaeda in Syria until 2017, when it formally severed ties with the global terrorist group.
Since seizing control of Damascus, al-Jolani has sought to ease fears among some Syrians due to the influence of extremist factions within the HTS and adopted a more moderate stance, pledging to establish a state founded on tolerance and coexistence among the country’s diverse ethnic and religious groups.
According to the US State Department, more than 40,000 foreign fighters from over 100 countries traveled to Syria to fight for UN-designated terrorist groups, including the al-Nusra Front and Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Syrian sources reported on Sunday that a number of foreign fighters including leaders of various Syrian armed factions that fought alongside HTS had been integrated into the country’s armed forces in a bid to transform the diverse array of rebel groups into a more professional military force.
Çiftçi was among the seven foreign fighters receiving high positions in the new Syrian army.
Rule of law versus arbitrariness?
Turkey’s decision to remove the name of a suspected al-Qaeda member from its wanted list has attracted criticism from opposition politicians and legal experts, who called the move a “blatant violation” of the rule of law and an example of the “arbitrary” nature of Turkey’s using anti-terrorism measures.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Murat Bakan appealed Minister Yerlikaya on X, asking him the reason why Çiftçi’s name was suddenly removed from the wanted list.
“Why was Ömer Çiftçi, wanted for being a member of al-Qaeda in Turkey, removed from the ‘Wanted Terrorists’ list in one day, without a court order? Did his terrorist status disappear when he was promoted to brigadier general in Syria? If he was not a terrorist, why did you put him on the list?” he asked.
Bakan also questioned whether Çiftçi was involved in any crimes against Turkish soldiers and civilians in Syria.
Opposition İYİ (Good) Party leader Turhan Çömez said the removal of Çiftçi’s name from the wanted list is unacceptable given the fact that it is not based on a court decision. He said Turkey has probably taken such a step in line with its position on the new rulers of Syria.
“The ministry does not bother with a court decision, it does not care about the rule of law. Turkey is not governed, it is skidding [away from its path],” said Çömez on X.
📣“El Kaide terör örgütü üyesidir, biz bunu arıyoruz” diye ilan etmiş İçişleri Bakanlığı.
👉Bir de ne görelim, adam Suriye’de general olmuş.
👉E tabi yeniden pozisyon almak lazım, hemen bakanlıktaki arama listesinden çıkartıyorlar adını. Mahkeme kararı, hukuk falan hak getire!… pic.twitter.com/aWJobXEl5m— Turhan Çömez (@ComezTurhan) January 1, 2025
Brussels-based lawyer Ali Yıldız, founder of The Arrested Lawyers initiative, told Turkish Minute that the immediate removal of Çiftçi’s name from the ministry’s wanted list shows the arbitrary nature of the Turkish authorities’ decision to include people on the wanted list.
He said Turkey puts people on its wanted list based on political considerations and that the listing has “nothing to do with fighting political violence and terrorism.”
“Both listing and removal are political acts without judicial oversight and should not be given any value by international institutions,” he said, adding that tens of journalists, human rights activists, authors, and academics are on this list as wanted terrorists solely because of their affiliation with the faith-based Gülen movement.
Over the last decade Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who passed away in the US in October, and his movement, which in the past had been praised by the Turkish government for their activities in education and inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, have faced various accusations from the government, including masterminding corruption investigations in 2013 and a coup attempt in July 2016.
The Turkish government labeled Gülen and his movement as “terrorists” in May 2016.
Gülen and his followers have strongly denied any involvement in the coup or any terrorist activity but have been the subject of a harsh crackdown for a decade, which intensified in the aftermath of the abortive putsch.
In addition to many Gülen-affiliated figures, other dissidents such as exiled journalist Can Dündar are also on the ministry’s wanted list.
Dündar was listed in the “gray category” in December 2022, under which a reward of up to TL 500,000 ($14,157) is offered for information that leads to the apprehension of the suspect being sought.
On the ministry website, Dündar is described as a member of “FETÖ,” a derogatory term used by the Turkish government to refer to the Gülen movement as a terrorist organization.
Activist and former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom and former Turkish footballer Hakan Şükür are also on Turkey’s wanted list due to their affiliation with the Gülen movement.
Dr. Emre Turkut, a Berlin-based international human rights expert, has said Turkey’s “Terrorist Wanted List” has always been more about politics than genuine security concerns and that government dissidents, such as Kurdish activists back in the 1990s and now Gülen-linked people, are included on the list without any credible evidence.
He said there is no transparency or due process as he accused the Turkish government of using Turkey’s vague anti-terror legislation as a weapon against government critics and to suppress dissent.
In the case of Ömer Çiftçi, Turkut said the removal of his name from the wanted list shows “the other side of the same coin: the selective approach and bias of the system.”
“A known jihadist gets removed from the list without any judicial order, while nonviolent dissidents are left on it indefinitely. If counterterrorism measures are not transparent, fair and based on the rule of law, they lose all legitimacy,” Turkut added.
Officials say Turkish prosecutors have launched more than 2 million terrorism investigations following the 2016 coup attempt.