Turkey finally designates Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist group
Turkey’s Council of Ministers designated Jabhat al-Nusra a terrorist organization the day Syria held its presidential elections.
The timing was interesting. Turkey’s Council of Ministers decided on June 3 — the day war-torn Syria held a dubious election in regime-controlled areas — to designate Jabhat al-Nusra, an al-Qaeda affiliate fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, a terrorist organization.
Since the May 2013 Reyhanli bombing — the worst terrorist attack in Turkey, which killed 52 and wounded more than a hundred — the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has held the Syrian regime responsible. Yet, the country’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has submitted multiple requests to the Turkish parliament for a thorough investigation into the matter. The CHP has frequently demanded the formation of a parliamentary investigation commission in an attempt to come clean on Turkey’s alleged support for al-Qaeda's franchise groups in Syria. Their proposals have not produced any outcome.
