US warns Turkey against hosting leaders of Hamas

The Biden administration has warned Turkey against hosting members of Hamas’ leadership, after reports emerged that several senior members of Hamas left Qatar for Ankara last week.

Asked about reports that the Turkish government was hosting the leadership of the organisation’s political wing, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Monday he was not in a position to dispute the claim.

“We don’t believe the leaders of a vicious terrorist organisation should be living comfortably anywhere,” Miller said, adding that this especially applies in the Turkish capital — a “major city of one of our key allies and partners”.

Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said that Hamas members departed from Doha to Ankara after the Qatari government announced it was walking away from its previous efforts to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Turkish diplomatic sources have previously dismissed reports that Hamas is moving its political office to Turkey, saying that members of the militant group only visit the country rarely.

Qatar abandoned its mediation efforts after growing frustration with a lack of progress on both sides of the conflict in Gaza.

Two weeks ago, a US official said the Biden administration told Qatar that the militant group’s office in Doha — set up so that representatives of Hamas could participate in negotiating a ceasefire — was no longer useful, and the Hamas delegation should be expelled.

Qatar reiterated that there was no longer a path to “negotiate a deal in good faith”, and that the Hamas political office therefore “no longer serves its purpose.”

A senior Hamas official said at the time they were aware of Qatar’s decision to suspend mediation efforts, but insisted they had not been told to leave the country.

Hamas members in Turkey

Prominent Hamas leaders, such as Ismail Haniyeh and Saleh al-Arouri, were known to have visited and stayed in Turkey before they were killed by Israel’s military.

Meanwhile, relations between Turkey and Israel have deteriorated since Israel launched its military campaign in the Gaza Strip following the Hamas attacks on southern Israel on 7 October 2023.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a vocal critic of Israel’s military operation in Gaza, which he has characterised as genocide, and does not consider Hamas a terrorist organisation.

Last Wednesday, Erdogan said that his government had severed all ties with Israel and would “maintain this stance in the future”.