Ankara places a $1.72 million bounty on the head of exiled Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, a staunch opponent of PA President Mahmoud Abbas and one of the most outspoken critics of Turkish President Tayyip Erdo?an.
Exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan | Photo: Reuters/Loay Abu Haykel
Turkey has added exiled Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan to its “red list” of most-wanted terrorist suspects, offering a reward of up to 10 million lira ($1.72 million) for information leading to his capture, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Dahlan on accusations of playing a role in the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, seeking to change the constitutional order by force, and various spying-related charges, the ministry said in a statement.
Dahlan has also recently been an outspoken critic of Turkish President Tayyip Erdo?an.
Turkey accuses US-based cleric Fethullah Gülen and his followers of carrying out the failed putsch of July 2016, when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks, and helicopters in a bid to seize power in which some 250 people were killed.
Dahlan has lived in the United Arab Emirates since he was driven out of the Palestinian territories in 2011 after a row with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
He was formerly an elected member of Abbas’ Fatah party central committee and was a fierce foe of Hamas, the Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip and which has forged close ties with Turkey.
Dahlan’s party condemned the Turkish move.
“The Democratic Reform Party in Fatah movement views the Turkish decision as a paid incitement to … assassinate Palestinian leader Mohammed Dahlan, and announces its intentions to prosecute Erdo?an’s regime inside and outside of Turkey,” it said in a statement.
This is interesting. It adds dimension to the neo-Ottoman drama.