The US says Hamas has set up a global financial operation to support its activities.
When developers began building a horse farm across the narrow, sunlit street from Kezban's home about seven years ago, she had just gotten engaged.
Two years later, Kezban was married and pregnant. and gave birth shortly before the opening of the brilliant complex. New neighbors have begun moving into a gated community in Bursa, Turkey's fourth-largest city.
The apartment building that towers over Kezban's house is very similar to other housing complexes that have sprung up as a result of the city's construction boom.But the US government considers this complex, Anda Park Balat 2, to be expensive. an asset in a secret global investment portfolio that could be worth as much as $1 billion, run by Hamas, potentially making it one of the richest terrorist groups in the world.
On Friday, the US Treasury Department announced a third round of sanctions starting in 2022, targeting Trend GYO, Turkish developer Anda Park Balat 2 and several other projects for being part of Hamas' international financial network.
“ This is the first I've heard of this,” Kezban said.
Hamas has created a global redirection operation to support its activities – using front companies, physically moving cash, transferring it through cryptocurrencies, siphoning funds. support from charities and receiving donations from friendly countries such as Iran, which supports several militant groups in countries bordering Israel.
Turkey, one of the countries where Hamas invests through companies such as Trend GYO, has been criticized for failing to take a tougher stance against Hamas. Unlike the US, UK and EU, Turkey does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization.
Ankara even granted citizenship to people associated with Hamas, including individuals later targeted by US sanctions. Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was also reportedly in Turkey when the group's militants attacked Israel earlier this month.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president, last week called Hamas “a liberation group, a mujahideen fighting for the defense of their lands and people,” using the Arabic word to refer to those who fight for their faith.
Wally Adeyemo, the US deputy secretary of the Treasury, said his government's sanctions were aimed at “dismantling Hamas' funding networks …to deny Hamas the ability to exploit the international financial system.”
“While Hamas itself has been under sanctions for decades, we must go after new front companies, middlemen and intermediaries that are emerging,” Mr. Adeyemo said on Friday in London, seeking to build a “coalition” with Britain and other similar organizations. Countries determined to stop funding Hamas.
In the latest sanctions, the three largest shareholders of Trend GYO were named: Alaeddin Shenguler, chairman of the board; Member of the Board Gülşah Yığidoğlu; and Arva Mangush.
Other alleged Hamas front companies based in Sudan, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have also previously been sanctioned by the US for increasing the wealth of Hamas leaders and funding the group's activities.
“If I had lived there and learned about potential connection with Hamas, I would immediately sell this property,” said Fatma, a woman in her 50s who lives next to the complex built by Trend GYO.
“I remember when they started building this apartment years ago,” she said, adding that she considered buying one of the apartments, “but when I saw the inside of the apartment, I changed my mind. The walls here seemed not strong enough to withstand earthquakes.”
Anda Park complex in Bursa, Turkey. Credit: Yasin Akgul
Most of Trend GYO's projects are in Bursa, home to luxury real estate for centuries as the first capital of the former Ottoman Empire.
The Telegraph visited all five Trend Anda Park towers in the city: glass and concrete slats extending underneath angle into the sky against the backdrop of the majestic Uludag Mountain.
Some apartments seemed empty, although residents were looking out from others. because of the tinted windows and white lace curtains. Several children played on the rainbow playgrounds and stray cats lounged in the sun.
The largest complex, Anda Park Millet, consists of 135 residences in four buildings.
Signs reading “satilik” or “kiralik” dot the perimeter fences and identify properties for sale and for rent.Trend GYO Anda Park apartments are on the market for up to 7.5 million Turkish lira (£220,000), with rents starting from 20,000 lira (£600), according to residents and property listings.< /p>
These are the prices. in Turkey, where the average income last year was 62,800 liras (£1,840), according to the government.
Billboards in an olive grove on the western outskirts of Bursa confirmed that Trend GYO is working on a sixth project, as stated on the company's website, Trend Boulevard Houses, which will house 240 apartments and six commercial units.
In Istanbul, Trend GYO is also behind the city's commercial university project.
“The real estate sector is a great way to hide dirty money [as] property prices tend to be quite stable,” he said. Nicholas Ryder, Professor of Law and Terrorist Financing Specialist at Cardiff University.
There's even a chance to “get a return on this as a potential investment,” he added.
Trend GYO is now valued at around 567 million liras (£15.5 million) on the Istanbul stock market.
“Hamas has made huge sums of income through its secret investment portfolio, while destabilizing Gaza, which faces severe living conditions. and economic conditions,” Elizabeth Rosenberg, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Treasury Department, said when Trend GYO was first sanctioned last May.
After each round of US sanctions, Trend GYO has appeared to try to distance itself from its alleged ties to Hamas, usually by making corporate changes or changing shareholders, according to a Telegraph review of the company's records since its market debut in 2018.
In May 2022, six days after the US announced its first sanctions against Trend GYO, the company released a statement saying it “always fully complies with applicable laws in all of its operations and business.”Trend GYO also reported that the person subject to US sanctions, Hisham Younis Yahya Kafishe, agreed to resign at the request of the board of directors, sold his stake and “no longer has any relationship with our company.”
G Mr. Cafishe was one of four partners who owned Trend GYO when the company sought regulatory approval for a stock market listing, and his signature can be found on the company's public filings.
Palestinian flags were displayed prominently throughout Turkey. Photo: Yassin Akgul
The US government said last year that Mr Kafishe was the deputy to Osama Ali, appointed in mid-2017 to head Hamas' investment office, “in a position in which he coordinated financial transfers to Hamas.”
Washington also alleged that Mr. Ali served on the Hamas executive committee and had direct contacts with senior Hamas members, including the leader, Mr. Haniyeh. Ali was sanctioned by the US last year, and Haniyeh in 2018.
On October 20, Trend GYO again issued a similar statement two days after a new round of US sanctions, saying that the sanctioned individual, Amer Kamal Sharif Al-Shawa, had ceased all cooperation with the firm since 2019.
< p> However, The Telegraph's investigation shows Mr Al Shawa remains linked to Trend GYO. According to stock exchange filings, he is one of three members of the investment committee of Investrade Pörtfoy Yönetimi, a Turkish firm linked to Trend.
Such changes are an attempt to “hide Trend GYO's ongoing connection to Hamas by transferring ownership to other parties,” the US Treasury said in a statement.
Indeed, it was when Mr. Kafishe sold his shares last year that Mr. Shenguler, who was sanctioned last week, bought the company with an initial stake of 5.56 percent, according to the company's year-end financial report.
Mr. Shengüler increased his stake to more than 22 percent in the company. according to the company's reporting in the first quarter of this year.
Earlier this year also marked the first appearance in Trend GYO's financial reports of 31-year-old Ms. Yigidoglu, another person sanctioned last week.
'Extensive global network'
Mr Shengüler, 64, a Turkish citizen of Egypt, heads his own real estate empire, Ala Property, and has led various projects in northern Iraq, Bahrain and Libya.
Much less is said about Ms. Yigidoglu, a Turkish national mentioned in the same company reports, other than that she previously worked as a Turkish language teacher at a “private international educational institution,” was at one time a manager of a real estate company, and “is very well spoken.” in Arabic.”
Ms. Mangush, 37, the third Trend shareholder recently sanctioned, has owned shares in the company since mid-2019, when previous owner Saleh Mangush transferred his entire stake of nearly 24 percent. cent. It is unclear whether the two are related, and the Saudi national has since sold some of her assets.
Trend GYO represents just one corner of a vast global network of companies linked to powerful figures rumored to be linked with Hamas.
Trend is part of the Al-Ahmar group, which includes 90 companies operating in several sectors, including banking, real estate, tourism, mobile operators, and oil and gas, according to LinkedIn. profile.
The group includes Saba Islamic Bank, Sabafon GSM, Yemen Gas Company and IYS Yapi, which operate in many countries including Bahrain, Yemen, Djibouti and Turkey.
The Al Ahmar Group is headed by Sheikh Hamid Al Ahmar , an influential Yemeni businessman. According to company records, he was the original owner of Trend GYO and chairman of the board of directors until Mr. Shengüler took the reins.
Many of Al-Ahmar Group's Turkish businesses share the same office address in Istanbul's Kagitane district. , including Trend GYO, Investrade Pörtfoy Yönetimi, IYS and Saba Investing, and appear to be doing business together, as detailed in LinkedIn profiles and company documents.
Photos with Mr Erdogan
Websites of some The companies lack a professional appearance, poor grammar, and little, if any, information about their executives, operations, or projects—perhaps another sign that the U.S. considers them shell companies.
< p>“Our team of partners is a large team of experts in many sectors, from technology, management and marketing,” says Istanbul-based Saba Investing on its website.
Company executives also appear to be have connections to (or at least access to) the highest levels of the Turkish government, which does not consider Hamas a terrorist group.
Mr. Al-Ahmar, for example, has appeared in photographs before. with Erdogan.
And in 2014, a Turkish newspaper reported that Erdogan called Şenguler, the chairman of the board of Trend GYO, who fell under US sanctions last Friday, to express condolences over the unexpected death of his son.< /p>
Trend GYO did not respond to a request about comments, although the company published a statement after the latest sanctions.
“Our company does not provide any financial support to any organizations, which is impossible under the laws to which it adheres” and “is responsible for every penny spent, adhering to the principle of transparency,” it says.
< p>Investrade and Ala Property, where Mr. Shenguler is chief executive, did not respond to requests for comment.
Ms. Mangush, Ms. Yigidoglu, Mr. Al-Ahmar, the Al-Ahmar Group and Hamas could not be reached for comment.
“What can I do now?”
The apartment complex built next door, built by Trend, has had little impact on Kezban's life, except that more families, some of whom are her classmates, have moved into the area.
“We always greet each other,” she said.
Still, tensions exist in Turkey, where pro-Palestinian sentiment is common, layered on top of the rich Jewish heritage of the Ottoman Empire.
All of this is laid bare in Bursa's historical record. the city center, where the Palestinian flag flutters from a rocky mountainside topped by a clock tower. “We say no to war and massacre,” reads the banner.
A few steps away is a 15th-century synagogue founded by Jews who found refuge here after fleeing Mallorca, Spain. However, local police banned the Telegraph from photographing the historic building.
“We didn't have this information [about Hamas] when we bought the apartment,” said one 39-year-old woman. The Bursa native who owns the apartment built by Trend GYO declined to give her name.
“But what should I do now? I already bought it.”
With reporting by Ozlem Temena
Recent Comments