[THECONSERVATIVETREEHOUSE] The recordings come as a result of a court case within Turkey:USNWR [...] During the trial of the Islamic State (IS) militants who attacked Turkish security forces at Nigde last year, court files revealed that Turkey, beyond supplying opposition forces with weapons and ammunition, had also given artillery support to the opposition groups that captured Kassab. The prosecutor obtained striking admissions by tapping the defendants' phones. According to documents obtained by Ahmet Sik of Cumhuriyet, the wiretapping transcripts reveal that the opposition forces at Kassab inform people in Turkey of the coordinates of Syrian army positions around Kassab, and then Turkey shells those locations.... The controversial court documents, which include secret wiretap transcriptions, also show Turkey directly provided weapons to Ansar al-Islam. Ansar al-Islam is comprised of ideological Kurdish Jihadists, and has strong ties to both al-Qaeda and ISIS. Ansar al-Islam was also one of the groups fighting our U.S. troops during operations in Iraq.
The evidence in the case goes on to highlight how the Turkish Army backed assaults on Kasab -- those assaults were primarily carried out by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Nusra, and the Qatar Sponsored Islamic Front. |