Hamas has maintained a leadership presence in Turkey, and Turkish presidents have received its senior figures. U.S. Treasury records describe Saleh al-Arouri’s role directing and financing Hamas cells and moving funds; they establish his operational work, while the details of individual decisions made from Turkey should be attributed carefully.
What Treasury documented about al-Arouri
On September 10, 2015, the U.S. Treasury designated al-Arouri for acting for Hamas and supporting its financial operations. Treasury said that as of 2014 he had authority over Hamas military personnel in Judea and Samaria, directed and financed cells there and in Jordan, and facilitated transfers of hundreds of thousands of dollars for weapons and storage facilities. Treasury also recorded that he publicly praised Hamas’s responsibility for the June 2014 kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers. U.S. Treasury’s 2015 designation sets out the underlying allegations and dates.
Senior Hamas figures met Erdoğan in Istanbul
On August 22, 2020, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh and senior official Maher Salah in Istanbul. The U.S. State Department objected, identifying both visitors as designated terrorists and stating that Erdoğan had hosted Hamas leaders twice that year. Ankara rejected the U.S. criticism and characterized Hamas as a legitimate political actor. The meeting displayed Erdoğan’s political support for Hamas and gave its senior leaders direct access to Turkey’s president. State Department statement on the Istanbul meeting and coverage of al-Arouri’s 2014 remarks in Turkey record the public evidence.
Al-Arouri’s public role in Turkey
Al-Arouri spoke at a scholars’ conference in Turkey in August 2014 and praised the operation against the three teenagers, according to a recording reported at the time. Treasury’s 2015 action independently connects him with cell direction and financing. Al-Arouri’s appearance and remarks in Turkey placed a senior Hamas operative publicly alongside the group’s terror operations. For the financial evidence involving a Turkey-based company, see Hamas financing and Turkish companies; for Erdoğan’s public position, see Erdoğan’s policy toward Hamas.