Turkish support for the Yemeni Brotherhood ... Erdogan's plan to disrupt the security of the region
English - Sunday 21 June 2020 الساعة 12:08 pm
Newsyemen, Abdullah Al-Shadly:
Since 2011, the amount of generous Turkish support for the Yemeni Rally for Islah, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, has grown steadily, and the group has been receiving it openly after Ankara and other countries have been providing it from under the table.
Media reports say that Turkey has increased the frequency of arms and money smuggling to Al-Islah in the recent period, coinciding with a media letter addressed through a number of Muslim Brotherhood channels broadcasting from Istanbul.
Reports indicate that Ankara has intensified the dispatch of Turkish intelligence agents to the areas under the control of the Islah Party through the Turkish Relief Organization, and has worked to train hundreds of group members inside Turkish territory.
Turkey is spread in the areas under the control of the Islah Party, through the humanitarian support that Turkish President Recep Erdogan helped during his reign, and it became a cover for intervention under the headlines of establishing hospitals and schools and providing food aid, but in reality this activity turned into an intelligence effort par excellence.
Seized Turkish weapons
In 2012 and 2013, Yemeni security services managed to seize two consignments of smuggled Turkish weapons in Yemeni territorial waters, as well as confiscating thousands of light and medium Turkish weapons equipped with binoculars and silencers at customs outlets.
The Yemeni Ministry of Defense announced at that time a seizure of Turkish-made weapons smuggled through the Red Sea, which is the fifth of its kind to be smuggled into Yemen.
The ministry said, in a previous statement on its website, that the security services "managed to seize a car carrying smuggled Turkish-made weapons provided through the (Mocha) port on the Red Sea."
A commercial ship arriving from Turkey, which was loaded with three thousand silencer pistols, packed with cardboard boxes for biscuits, was seized and registered in the name of a fake dealer.
Other sources, quoting "Gulf" sources, said: "The information leaked about the fate of the files of Turkey's arms smuggling operations to Yemen, which were seized by customs officials and security services, and seized on them, was closed after the direct intervention of the American ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Firestone."
It was not clear the reasons for the American intervention in the interest of the Turkish authorities to prevent the continuation of the investigation of the deals of smuggled weapons and those involved in them, whether the official Turkish bodies smuggled in arms or those associated with the Turkish intelligence services, which were issued arms to them.
Turkish-Iranian Qatari rapprochement
The Turkish role in Yemen has witnessed a noticeable escalation recently, following the rapprochement between Ankara and Tehran.
Observers say that this escalation reveals Ankara's desire to use the Yemeni file to blackmail allied countries, and to play a role similar to what it is doing in both Syria and Libya through militant Islamist groups such as the Brotherhood and al-Qaeda.
They added that these fears are heightened by the concerted Turkish-Qatari efforts in Yemen through a Turkish agenda and Qatari funding for some Yemeni political and tribal figures affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is listed on the terrorism list in many countries.
