Leading jihadist figure in Turkey Abu Hanzala released

Halis Bayancuk, as known as "Abu Hanzala", the leader of the Salafist Tevhid group and a leading jihadist figure in Turkey, who was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison with the accusation of being an ISIS leader, was released by the Turkish Court of Cassation because "there was no suspicion of fleeing."

Halis Bayancuk, as known as "Abu Hanzala", the leader of the Salafist Tevhid group and a leading jihadist figure in Turkey, who was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison with the accusation of being an ISIS leader, was released by the Turkish Court of Cassation because "there was no suspicion of fleeing."

Pro-jihadist website 'Tevhid Gündemi', close to Bayancuk, announced his release with the title, "11 years of lawlessness came to an end". In an article, it was claimed that Bayancuk was released because "there was no suspicion of fleeing".

"The court committee, citing the long detention duration exceeding the maximum time, the collection of evidence, and the lack of suspicion of escape, put an end to the unlawful detention of 6 years in the last arrest and 11 years in total, and decided to release Halis Bayancuk Hoca," the website said.

Links with Jihadist groups

Bayancuk group claims that they "do not pledge allegiance to ISIS". However, it is known that the leaders of some Salafi groups with whom Bayancuk once held meetings have joined ISIS in Syria. According to the trial documents; Hasan Aydın, the brother of İlyas Aydın, one of Bayancuk's associates, and Ömer Yetek were involved in the burning of two Turkish soldiers at the time they were members of the ISIS.

Bayancuk's acquaintance with İlyas Aydın and Ömer Yetek dates back to 2013, and at that time ISIS had not yet declared itself as an "Islamic state". There was a Salafist organization that still existed as Al-Qaeda.

According to the information, Salafi groups organized meetings under the name of "Islamic Study Meetings" in 2013 and 2014. Prominent figures like Halis Bayancuk, İsmail Okur, İlyas Aydın, Mustafa Yağbasa, and Ömer Yetek, who were the leaders of Salafi groups, organized these meetings. The main purpose of these meetings was to discuss what needed to be done to establish an Islamic state. While the meetings were going on, Bayancuk was arrested on 14 January 2014 following an anti-terror operation targeting al-Qaeda in Van district.

Bayancuk's claimed statement on ISIS

While Bayancuk was in prison, four of his friends continued the meetings. ISIS declared a caliphate on 29 June 2014, in other words, it was now an "Islamic state". Aydın and Yetek, who attended these meetings, were in favor of joining ISIS. Aydın joined ISIS with his group in the later months of 2014 and Yetek became a member in 2015.

After Aydın and Yetek joined ISIS, Bayancuk told them that he was not in favor of joining ISIS, saying, "We do not know those people. We don't know their goals. We do not have information about their beliefs and ways."

Father Bayancuk also convicted on terror charges

Bayancuk's father, Hacı Bayancuk, was in charge of Turkish Hezbollah's military section in 1992. Bayancuk was arrested in 2008 while planning the second Synagogue raid in Istanbul and was released a year later. 

His father Hacı Bayancuk was convicted as the planner of the assassination of Police Chief Gaffar Okkan. The current Chairman of HUDA PAR, the political wing of Hezbollah, Zekeriya Yapıcoğlu was the lawyer of Hacı Bayancuk, a member of Hezbollah's Shura (assembly) and sentenced to life imprisonment.