My long essay, “Türkiye, HTS, and the New Spirit of Islamism,” is out in the Summer 2026 issue of the Middle East Journal (MEJ). It is the fullest version I have put on paper of an argument I have been making for a few years now, in my 2024 book and across this column.
When Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former jihadist commander once known by his nom de guerre, al-Jolani, entered Damascus in December 2024 at the head of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), and turned within months into a suited head of state, Türkiye was standing close behind him. Hakan Fidan, who ran Turkish intelligence for thirteen years before becoming foreign minister, had been in contact with al-Sharaa since 2019. İbrahim Kalın took over intelligence when Fidan left it. The first foreign minister to reach the new presidential palace was Fidan. The first intelligence chief to pray at the Umayyad Mosque was Kalın. The first gift to arrive was a suit from Vakko, Istanbul’s most established luxury house, and the photographs of the fig…
