Far from being the first kidnapping of its kind in Turkey, the fate of Habib Chaab, Swedish-Iranian citizen and leader of the Iranian Arab separatist group “Arab Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz” (ASMLA), once demonstrated moreover, the degree of action of the Tehran secret services. On Monday, December 14, the Turkish authorities announced that they had arrested 11 people suspected of espionage and involved in the kidnapping of the opponent on behalf of Iran, denying the statements of the Iranian authorities according to which the latter had been extradited by Turkey. Habib Chaab went to Istanbul on October 9 to meet an Iranian national, “Sabreen”, who turned out to be a spy acting on behalf of her country’s secret services, according to Turkish police, who added that the The opponent was then drugged and captured before being forcibly taken to Van province, on the Iranian border, to be handed over to the authorities in Tehran. Subsequently, the captive appeared during the month of November in a video, broadcast on Iranian television, in which he confesses to working for the Saudi intelligence services and acknowledges his involvement in the deadly attack on an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, in September 2018.
This incident follows several kidnappings or murders of Iranian opponents abroad by the Tehran regime. On Monday, December 14, Iranian journalist Rouhollah Zam, who has been living in France for several years and kidnapped by the regime under unclear circumstances, was executed. In 2019, Masoud Molavi Vardanjani, a former Iranian Defense Ministry employee known to criticize his government, was shot and killed in Istanbul as part of an operation sponsored by Iranian intelligence agents working at the consulate of the Islamic Republic, according to Turkish police. Two years earlier, in 2017, Saïd Karimian, a British media mogul of Iranian origin, sentenced to 6 years in prison in absentia by the Islamic justice system for disseminating anti-regime propaganda, was also shot and killed in the streets of Istanbul.
“The Islamic regime has encountered massive opposition from the Iranian people in recent years. At the same time, the US sanctions against Tehran have limited the economic capacity of the regime and there are fewer rents to share among the elite. This deepened the rift between the regime’s elite and contributed to growing internal power struggles. All of this together has led Iran to choose an aggressive path against its adversaries to ensure its survival, ”observes Arvin Khoshnood, Iran specialist and lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, to L’Orient-Le Jour. who adds that “the regime has executed or planned in the last five years several terrorist attacks in Europe and killed or kidnapped opponents in Turkey, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates”.
Turkey’s arrests a week ago in connection with the Habib Chaab affair come as relations between Ankara and Tehran appear to have deteriorated recently. Traveling to Baku on December 10 to witness Azerbaijan’s victory parade in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recited an Azeri-Iranian poem on the “painful separation” of Azerbaijani territory between Russia and Iran in the 19th century. Enough to worry the Islamic Republic, which fears the irredentism of its own Azeri minority, living in the northwest of the country. “The Turkish ambassador has been informed that the era of territorial claims and expansionist empires is over,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on its website the day after, adding that “the Iran does not allow anyone to interfere with its territorial integrity ”. Turkey denounced Tehran’s “offensive language”.
Fight against separatism
“The Islamic regime and Turkey have disagreements among other things on the issue of pan-Turkism and they have conflicting interests in Syria, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. However, at the same time, the two states share many interests, ”explains Arvin Khoshnood. While Recep Tayyip Erdogan was attempting a rapprochement with the European Union during the start of his mandate, he then gradually turned to regimes such as Iran. In addition to their close economic cooperation, all the more important as the two countries are subject to US sanctions, Turkey and Iran are joining together on the issue of the fight against separatism. “Turkey mainly has problems with Kurdish terrorist organizations, such as the PKK, while Habib Chaab belongs to the considered terrorist organization ASMLA which operates inside Iran. These common interests have enabled regimes to cooperate, especially on issues related to security and intelligence, ”adds the specialist. Ankara and Tehran also have similar views on the Kurdish question, with Iran refusing, like Turkey, to grant autonomy to the latter for fear of losing part of its territory. Given the nature of their cooperation, it is not certain that the abduction of Habib Chaab jeopardizes Turkish-Iranian relations, which could even strengthen. “Past or recent Iranian intelligence operations on Turkish soil do not have a significant detrimental impact on Tehran-Ankara relations. The Islamic regime handed over several members of the PKK to Turkey, while Ankara turned a blind eye to the regime’s activities in Turkey. These events, which have garnered much attention around the world, will result in smarter intelligence cooperation between the two countries, ”concludes Arvin Khoshnood.
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Far from being the first kidnapping of its kind in Turkey, the fate of Habib Chaab, Swedish-Iranian citizen and leader of the Iranian Arab separatist group “Arab Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz” (ASMLA), once demonstrated moreover, the degree of action of the Tehran secret services. On Monday, December 14, the Turkish authorities announced that they had …
