Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS)-Linked Body, Senior HTS Cleric Congratulate Turkey's Erdoğan On Election Victory, Hope For His Continued Support Of Syrian Revolution

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Turkey's incumbent president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of the right-wing Justice and Development (Adalet ve Kalkınma – AK) Party, won the country's May 28 runoff elections with 52.14% of the vote, while his opponent, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu of the Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi – CHP), received 47.86%. This second round of elections followed a stalemate in the May 14 presidential elections, in which Erdoğan received 49.5% of the vote and Kılıçdaroğlu 44.9%, with neither achieving a majority. President since August 2014, Erdoğan is set to enter his third decade as Turkey's leader, having earlier served as prime minister (a position Erdoğan's government abolished in 2018) from March 2003.

Following Erdoğan's election victory, a body linked to Syrian jihadi group Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) and a senior HTS cleric congratulated him and the Turkish people on his win. As the most powerful group and de facto ruler of Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib region, HTS enjoys the grudging patronage of Turkey, which maintains a military presence in northern Syria, although the latter continues to consider it a terrorist organization and has sanctioned some of its officials.[1] In recent months, Turkey has indicated its willingness to reconcile with the Assad regime, a move that HTS has half-heartedly criticized while continuing to extend overtures to the neighboring country.[2]

On May 28, 2023, the HTS-linked Department of Political Affairs (DPA) published an official statement in Arabic and Turkish versions congratulating the "government and people" of Turkey on Erdoğan's reelection. The statement asks Allah for Erdoğan's victory to bring greater "security and prosperity" to the Turkish people, greater Turkish support for the Syrian revolution, and for Turkey to increase its role in "defending the oppressed and downtrodden all over the world."[3]

Senior Iraqi-born HTS religious official Maysarah Al-Jubouri aka Abu Mariyah Al-Qahtani also published a Telegram post congratulating Erdoğan and praising the defeat of his "Alevi Nusayri"[4] rival, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu. Al-Qahtani asked Allah to make Erdogan successful and keep him far from Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, declaring that "every Muslim and every fair person" must side with Syrian Sunnis against "their executioner and killer."[5]

The elections in Turkey have divided jihadis, with some expressing support for Erdoğan, widely seen as an Islamist, and others dismissing him as a secularist unbeliever.[6]

In a 2021 interview to a Turkish newspaper, HTS leader Abu Muhammad Al-Joulani justified Turkey's military presence in Syria and declared his support for the country's interests.[7] Yahya (Abu Al-Fath) Al-Farghali, an Egyptian-born HTS cleric, issued a fatwa against attacking Turkish forces in the Idlib area and calling for anyone who does so to be severely punished, in contrast to other jihadis – particularly those aligned with Al-Qaeda – who have called to target Turkish forces and claimed responsibility for such attacks.[8]