Yasemin Aydın*
When a head of intelligence kneels to pray in a historic mosque, it’s rarely just about faith. İbrahim Kalın, Turkey’s intelligence chief, used his prayer at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus to signal more than personal devotion — it was a calculated move to showcase Ankara’s growing ambitions in Syria. Far from the covert, shadowy role typical of his position, Kalın has emerged as a public architect of Turkey’s authoritarian expansion, blending ideology, strategy and repression into a dangerous blueprint for power.
Turkish President Erdogan in 2012:
Inshallah, we will recite Al-Fatiha at the grave of Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi and pray at the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus. pic.twitter.com/GVJdswJ8tT
— Globe Eye News (@GlobeEyeNews) December 8, 2024
In the aftermath of the Assad regime’s collapse, Turkey’s strategic moves have taken center stage, with Kalın making a calculated spectacle by praying at the Umayyad Mosque. This highly unusual and symbolic act for someone in his position highlights his broader role as the ideologue behind Ankara’s policies. Kalın is pivotal in shaping Turkey’s strategy in Syria while also justifying and intellectualizing the broader authoritarian practices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s regime. From military incursions framed as “counterterrorism” to the suppression of dissent, Kalın transforms systemic repression into a narrative of moral and national necessity, embedding it into Turkey’s governance and exporting it to vulnerable regions like Syria.
The head of the Turkish Intelligence Agency, İbrahim Kalın, was driven to the Umayyad Mosque by HTS leader Jolani himself.
While Turkey officially lists HTS as a terrorist organization (on paper), so do the US and EU.
This raises serious questions: Why is Kalın working directly… pic.twitter.com/BhVntfasQE
— Amed Dicle (@ameddicleT) December 12, 2024
In her exploration of the “banality of evil,” Hannah Arendt examined how bureaucrats like Adolf Eichmann committed atrocities not as moral monsters but as cogs in a thoughtless machine. Kalın represents a darker evolution of this concept — not a mere bureaucratic executor, but an architect of repression. Using academic polish, Kalın normalizes what should be universally condemned, embedding tyranny into Turkey’s governance while framing it as a moral and philosophical necessity.
Kalın’s predecessor, Hakan Fidan, transformed Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) into a blunt instrument of transnational repression. Fidan militarized the agency and established torture centers while overseeing abduction campaigns in Kosovo, Malaysia and Kenya. However, while Fidan relied on operational ruthlessness, Kalın refines and rationalizes, giving tyranny a veneer of intellectual legitimacy. This shift makes Kalın a more dangerous figure — not just for Turkey, but for the global order.
Kalın’s unique role: Intellectualizing repression
Kalın’s academic credentials are the foundation of his influence. Unlike Fidan, a military officer, Kalın brings rhetorical sophistication to MİT’s operations. He cloaks unlawful detentions, forced renditions and extrajudicial actions in the language of sovereignty and societal order. For Kalın, repression is not just policy — it’s a framework to defend what he sees as a divine order.
As a young scholar, Kalın praised Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, describing him as a “guide of the resurrection” and a “model for devout Muslims.” He viewed theocratic authoritarianism as the ultimate safeguard against chaos. These writings are not relics of youthful idealism but the ideological scaffolding for his current leadership. Kalın’s Iran-inspired worldview recasts dissent not as a democratic right but as a moral and existential threat.
Under his leadership, the concept of national security has been twisted to justify erasing dissent. Journalists, activists and critics are no longer individuals with rights but disruptions to a controlled order. Kalın’s arguments transform oppression into rational policy, embedding it into Turkey’s political and legal institutions.
Exporting tyranny
As Kalın intellectualizes tyranny at home, he also exports it abroad. His tenure has elevated MİT’s global operations, extending Erdoğan’s reach beyond Turkey’s borders. Under Kalın’s leadership, transnational repression has become an art form, framed as a necessary tool of statecraft. His collaboration with Fidan, now foreign minister, further institutionalizes a dangerous model where intelligence and diplomacy work hand-in-hand to suppress dissent.
AFP
Building on Fidan’s foundation
Kalın’s rise builds on the groundwork laid by Fidan. Fidan’s heavy-handed tactics often drew international scrutiny, but Kalın’s calculated narrative work shields MİT’s actions. Together, they represent a formidable synergy: Fidan built the machinery of repression, and Kalın refined its justification, ensuring each unlawful act is cloaked in moral inevitability. This partnership institutionalizes a model of governance that undermines democratic norms and international law.
The normalization of evil
Kalın’s ability to normalize repression echoes Philip Zimbardo’s “Lucifer Effect,” which examines how systems of power make unethical actions acceptable. Under his leadership, MİT’s most egregious operations — kidnappings, unlawful detentions, and the silencing of critics — are rationalized as patriotic acts. Kalın blurs the line between the lawful and the unlawful, making fear itself an instrument of state policy.
One of Kalın’s most infamous declarations, that dissidents will “feel the breath of the Turkish Republic on their necks,” encapsulates his strategy. This calculated embedding of fear within governance reflects his approach to repression: systematic, intellectualized, and dangerously normalized.
A global threat
Kalın’s intellectualization of repression is not just a domestic issue — it’s a global threat. By creating a blueprint for legitimizing authoritarian practices, he offers a model for other regimes. His admiration for Iran’s theocratic authoritarianism and his sophisticated narratives pose a challenge to democratic norms worldwide. Kalın’s partnership with Fidan illustrates the risks of merging intelligence and diplomacy, creating a coordinated strategy that undermines international law while setting a dangerous precedent for global repression.
The architect of institutionalized evil
Kalın has transformed lawlessness into governance, oppression into patriotism and tyranny into an intellectual project. His leadership, rooted in his admiration for Iran’s theocratic model, represents a fusion of ideology, intelligence and diplomacy. Combined with Fidan’s operational legacy, Kalın institutionalizes a model of repression that transcends borders, threatening justice and human rights globally.
If the international community fails to act, Kalın’s authoritarian blueprint could become the new standard for tyranny. Confronting him means confronting not just an individual but a system that normalizes and exports oppression under the guise of morality and intellectual inevitability.
*Yasemin Aydın is a social anthropologist and social psychologist in Germany.