Turkey adds Abbas rival to list of wanted terrorists

Turkey on Friday added exiled Palestinian Arab politician Mohammed Dahlan, a longtime rival of Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas, to its “red list” of most-wanted terrorism suspects.

The Interior Ministry offered a reward of up to 10 million lira ($1.75 million) for information leading to Dahlan’s capture, Reuters reported.

Turkey accuses Dahlan of being a mercenary for the UAE and of being involved in the failed 2016 coup attempt against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dahlan, a former security chief in Gaza under Abbas’ Fatah faction, was ousted from the party in 2011 and fled to Dubai. His home in Ramallah was later raided by PA security forces.

Abbas has accused Dahlan of, among other things, collaborating with Israel to assassinate a senior Hamas terrorist in 2002.

Dahlan was sentenced in absentia in 2016 to three years in prison for allegedly embezzling $16 million while serving as a cabinet minister.

Turkish media regularly accuse Dahlan of involvement in the 2016 coup, and recently of playing a role in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul last year.

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 Erdogan’s regime inside and outside of Turkey,” it said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)