IRGC Quds Force set up a shop in Turkey’s capital to recruit militants including al-Qaeda aspirants

A convicted militant who has been working for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force set up a cell in the Turkish capital to radicalize young people, a classified intelligence report obtained by Nordic Monitor has revealed.

Hakkı Selçuk Şanlı, a Turkish national who served prison time for helping set up the Quds Force network in the 1990s under the orders of then-IRGC general Nasir Takipur, was put to use again by his handlers after keeping a low profile for years. As part of one of his assignments from Iran’s notorious intelligence service, he was directed to open a shop in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, registered in his son’s name, in order to recruit new assets on behalf of the Quds Force.

Şanlı was arrested on May 13, 2000 and was sentenced to 12 years, six months in prison for involvement in terrorist plots targeting Turkish and US interests. But he was freed in 2004 when the government of then-Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pushed an amnesty bill through Parliament, reducing sentences for some convicts.

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Hakkı Selçuk Şanlı, a Turkish national who served prison time for helping set up the Quds Force network in the 1990s under the orders of then-IRGC general Nasir Takipur, was put to use again by his handlers after keeping a low profile for years. As part of one of his assignments from Iran’s notorious intelligence service, he was directed to open a shop in Turkey’s capital of Ankara, registered in his son’s name, in order to recruit new assets on behalf of the Quds Force. Şanlı was arrested on May 13, 2000 and was sentenced to 12 years, six months in prison for involvement in terrorist plots targeting Turkish and US interests. But he was freed in 2004 when the government of then-Prime Minister and now President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pushed an amnesty bill through Parliament, reducing sentences for some convicts.