„Reports that Turkey provides cash to Hamas have circulated for years. But because this assistance is provided in the form of cash, it’s not easy for the Israelis to document. This is why Israel is focused on another demand: dismantling Hamas’s Istanbul headquarters. Hamas’s Turkey headquarters was big news in August 2014, when the group’s exiled military leader Saleh Arouri announced that his group was behind the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank. (…)
With increased attention on Arouri, including concern over the fact he was headquartered in the heart of a NATO country, the U.S. Treasury designated Arouri as a terrorist in September 2015. According to media accounts, the Hamas leader was then deported in December 2015, although his departure from Turkey may have occurred much sooner. While Arouri was the most prominent member of Hamas to find shelter in Istanbul, many other senior Hamas officials remain there. (…) And it’s not just Hamas political types and financiers who have made a home in Istanbul. Many there have blood on their hands.“
(Jonathan Schanzer: „Hamas Still Finds Harbor in Turkey“)
