After the massacres against the Alawite community in March and the Druze in July 2025, Kurdish residents of Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood and Ashrafieh neighborhoods have become the latest victims. They were targeted by the same coalition of forces that includes the Turkish-backed Syrian Free Army (SFA), Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and affiliated jihadist groups.
Numerous images and video recordings circulating widely on social media show jihadists mutilating the bodies of Kurdish civilians and fighters, torturing children until they lose consciousness or die, and burning bodies while chanting “Allahu Akbar” and “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews,” referring to an Arab massacre of Jews in the 7th century. While the immediate perpetrators identify themselves as Islamist jihadists, the true architect behind these atrocities is the Turkish state – its ministers, military, and intelligence apparatus.
Ankara has created, sustained, and directed a well-established network of Islamist proxies, providing them with equipment, intelligence, logistical support, and transportation. Hakan Fidan, the former head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and current foreign minister, has been central to this system, as revealed by leaked recordings dating back to 2014.
Turkey’s longstanding jihadist infrastructure
Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Turkey has played a profoundly destructive role in shaping the conflict. Ankara actively endorsed radical jihadist groups across Syria and beyond and Istanbul served as the primary gateway for thousands of global jihadists from Europe, North Africa, Central Asia, and the Gulf.
These fighters passed freely through Turkish airports and were transported to the Syrian border with the assistance – or acquiescence – of Turkish intelligence. They were subsequently trained, armed, and deployed inside Syria. Turkey’s jihadist infrastructure was neither hidden nor accidental: international media reported on it extensively, human rights organizations documented it, and Western intelligence agencies acknowledged it.
Yet Turkey faced no serious repercussions, largely due to its NATO membership, its leverage over refugee flows, and its role in facilitating the movement of jihadists into Europe. This reluctance among Western capitals to confront Ankara enabled Turkish impunity while rendering it complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians – a toll rivaled only by the Bashar al-Assad regime itself.
Turkey’s policy in Syria has never been driven by a commitment to civilian protection or democratic transformation. Instead, Ankara has pursued a geopolitical agenda aimed at subordinating Syria to Turkish influence and crushing Kurdish political aspirations at any cost. The consequences are evident in Aleppo, where massacres of Kurdish civilians mirror earlier attacks on Alawite and Druze communities.
US political cover and the role of Tom Barrack
These massacres are further compounded by the role of Tom Barrack, the US special envoy for Syria under President Donald Trump, whose policy has contributed to advancing Turkey’s regional ambitions and to the political legitimization of jihadist actors.
Despite a documented record of massacres, Barrack has repeatedly provided political cover for Turkish-backed forces and has continued to promote Ankara’s agenda. Numerous social media users, along with Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) director Rami Abdulrahman, have accused Barrack of complicity in the Aleppo massacre. His actions have effectively shielded jihadists from accountability.
The widespread circulation of videos documenting atrocities against Alawite, Druze, and Kurdish communities reveals methods strikingly similar to those employed by ISIS and Hamas. These acts are not isolated incidents but deliberate campaigns of terror, designed to inflict maximum suffering, terrorize civilian populations, dismantle social and political structures, and cleanse contested areas of minoritized communities in accordance with Ankara’s vision for Syria under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Ankara’s alignment with Iran and Hezbollah
Turkey’s destabilizing role extends well beyond Syria. Ankara has expanded its regional maneuvering in ways that directly undermine US policy objectives, particularly with regard to Iran.
Turkey has quietly cooperated with Iran’s clerical regime to prevent its collapse, even as millions of Iranians demand meaningful political change. The recent visit of Fidan to Iran further cemented this cooperation, framed around a shared “common enemy” in Jerusalem.
This collaboration has manifested in intelligence sharing, coordination, and support for Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy. Turkey’s political, financial, and logistical ties to Hezbollah sharply contradict its claim to be a bulwark against extremism. By sustaining Hezbollah’s operational capacity and armament, Ankara contributes to instability in Lebanon, Syria, and beyond, while undermining efforts to curb Iran’s regional influence.
Multiple reports also indicate that Turkish forces have tracked Kurdish fighters across borders, entered Iranian territory, and shared actionable intelligence with Iranian security services. This cooperation has enabled Tehran to target and eliminate Kurdish fighters who pose no threat to Turkey but challenge Iran’s authoritarian system. These actions place Turkey directly at odds with America’s stated objectives in Iran, including support for human rights, democratic transformation, and constraints on Iran’s nuclear and missile programs and proxy networks.
A policy that perpetuates violence
Turkey’s regional policy seeks to expand its influence across the Middle East while suppressing communities – particularly Kurds – that challenge its domestic and external ambitions. The human cost of this strategy is immense. From the Syrian coast and Sweida to Aleppo and into Iran, Turkish maneuvering has inflicted severe harm to civilians.
This approach disproportionately targets minoritized communities, stifles democratic aspirations, strengthens authoritarian regimes, and perpetuates cycles of violence. Turkey’s policy fosters instability, generates chaos, and then exploits that chaos for geopolitical gain.
By supporting Iran’s authoritarian regime while strengthening jihadist networks in Syria, Ankara’s actions run counter to Trump’s stated vision for regional stabilization, peace, and the resolution of proxy wars. If the US administration is serious about achieving lasting stability in the Middle East, it may need to reconsider its approach to Turkey.
The massacres on the Syrian coast, in Sweida, and in Aleppo are not aberrations. They are the predictable outcomes of a decade-long Turkish policy that prioritizes power, expansion, and control over coexistence, stability, and peace. Until Turkey’s role is confronted, the cycle of violence is likely to persist – adding more communities to an already growing list of victims.
The author is a research fellow in the Department of International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. X: @dagweysi