The operation launched by the opposition against the Assad regime on November 17 developed so rapidly that it shocked the whole world, and they reached the center of Damascus in 11 days. The 61-year-old Assad regime was overthrown on December 8, 2024, and became history.
While major powers were unsure how to position themselves in the face of this extraordinarily rapid development, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement’s leader Ahmed al-Shara made surprising statements once again, and life in cities returned to normal within 4 days.
There was no chaos, no massacres, no revenge, and the people adapted to the situation very quickly.
Al-Shara’s diplomatic statements, his inclusive remarks, and extremely carefully prepared messages naturally caught the attention of all states, politicians, and media.
At that time, everyone began to think and question that there was a state mind behind this rapid operation and these political statements.
Until December 12, there were speculations that the state mind was Britain, USA, Israel, or Russia. No one wanted to believe that HTS and other groups had changed, transformed, and made progress.
A photograph published on December 12 ended all discussions.
AN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF IN DAMASCUS
While states had not yet decided how to establish relations with the new Syrian administration and what position to take, an extremely surprising and incredible news began to spread in the media. Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT) Chief Ibrahim Kalın had come to Damascus. All sources were bombarded with phone calls to verify the news, but they couldn’t get an answer.
Then, footage taken by citizens in the streets of Damascus began to circulate. MIT Chief Ibrahim Kalın and Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Shara were seen in the front of a car. However, the footage wasn’t entirely clear, and everyone was trying to verify this incredible sight.
The author of this article saw that famous vehicle in the streets of Damascus and confirmed that Ibrahim Kalın and Ahmed al-Shara were inside. Shara was driving, and Kalın was sitting next to him.
This extraordinary situation spread quickly throughout the world, but what ended the main discussions was the publication of a photograph of MIT Chief Ibrahim Kalın praying at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on December 12, 2024.
Thus, it was definitively understood that the Turkish Intelligence Chief was in Damascus and was conducting a series of meetings and visits.
From that hour on, it began to be discussed worldwide that Turkey had a significant influence in the revolution that took place in Syria.
In fact, by sending its intelligence chief to Damascus, Turkey had given this message to the world: Turkey was not only present in Idlib, Azaz, Jarablus, but also in the heart of Damascus, and showed that it stood by the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people.
WHO IS IBRAHIM KALIN?
Everyone wondered about the MIT Chief who was seen with a smiling face expression in the Umayyad Mosque and on the streets of Damascus.
Actually, he wasn’t an unknown figure. He was someone whose statements frequently appeared in the media while he was President Erdogan’s spokesperson, whose intellectual works were read by the scientific community from America to England. But now he had become invisible in the intelligence world, one of the world’s most difficult jobs. Ibrahim Kalın had a profile that caused even more amazement as unknown aspects about him emerged.
A CAREER EXTENDING FROM WANTING TO BE AN ACADEMICIAN TO INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
“Actually, I never had any plans for politics and state duty. Since childhood, I always envisioned myself as a scholar, an academician. My dream was always that for the future. Thank God, I partially realized that, I mean I do have an academic life.”
In an interview with the press, Ibrahim Kalın described his planned career path like this. However, life brought him to a place he perhaps never thought of.
His family was from Erzurum, a city in the easternmost part of Turkey, famous for its cold winters, high mountains, and folk songs.
He himself was born in Istanbul in 1971 and attended middle school and high school in different cities. He returned to his birthplace for university and studied history at Istanbul University. From his student years, he closely followed political developments and set his mind on an academic career during those days. In his youth, he was called “agabeg” among his friends in Erzurum dialect. This was because he acted like a paternal, helpful big brother.
When he finished university in 1992, he went to Malaysia for his master’s degree. He studied Islamic thought and philosophy.
Kalın completed his master’s thesis on Mulla Sadra’s philosophy in 1994 and returned to Turkey, then went to America a year later. In the US, he first did his doctorate at Holy Cross and then Georgetown University in comparative humanities and philosophy, on “Mulla Sadra’s theory of knowledge and the possibility of an anti-subjectivist epistemology.”
He received his doctorate from this university in 2002. At that time, a crossroads appeared before him.
THE CRITICAL DECISION AT THE CROSSROADS
The year Dr. Ibrahim Kalın received his doctorate from Georgetown University, Turkey was experiencing a major political change. Recep Tayyip Erdogan won a great victory in the 2002 election and became the sole ruler in the country.
After conservative politics’ greatest political success to date, a great change began in Turkey.
Erdogan began gathering conservative community’s intellectuals, career holders, and talented youth around him.
Ibrahim Kalın was one of the young people who stood out in the community with his career and knowledge. AK Party officials offered Dr. Ibrahim Kalın to come to Turkey to establish an international think tank and produce ideas for Turkey.
Ibrahim Kalın hesitated for a while between staying at Georgetown University to continue his academic career and returning to Turkey to embark on a politically oriented life.
Finally, he accepted the offer and at age 34, in 2005, he came to Turkey and established SETA (Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research). From that day on, he began working closely with Prime Minister Erdogan. This closeness was the beginning of Ibrahim Kalın’s career story that would lead him to become the Intelligence Chief praying at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.
CAN BUREAUCRACY AND ACADEMIA GO HAND IN HAND?
Ibrahim Kalın’s disciplined reading and writing process, which he had maintained since his university years, continued a bit more easily during his period as SETA President. However, Prime Minister Erdogan offered him a new position to bring him closer. When Foreign Policy Advisor Prof. Ahmet Davutoğlu became Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Kalın suddenly entered into the dizzying speed and intense work of the Prime Ministry. However, he persistently didn’t give up his academic studies. Many intellectual books were published, and he received his professor title in 2020.
“I became a professor but I don’t use these titles much… Titles are accidental properties added to a person. The essential thing is the substance, that is, the person himself. It’s important in terms of appreciation; but these are professional titles. Professorship is an administrative, not an academic position. If you ask me, titles are things that veil one’s real identity and knowledge.”
After Erdogan became President, Ibrahim Kalın rose once again in his political career as Ambassador and Presidential Spokesperson. From that date on, he entered into intensive work in the fields of media, politics, academia, and diplomacy. However, during this time, he didn’t neglect writing philosophy and intellectual books. His books were published at Oxford University in England and Brigham Young University in America, and were later translated into many languages.
“Due to our work, there’s a very intense tempo, but we try to manage time well. I see the benefit of the reading and writing discipline that comes with being an academician. In our work, there’s not much concept of weekends or day and night. Due to duty, we’re ready at any moment. Therefore, many pages of this book were written on planes, in hotels of countries we visited, waking up early on Sunday mornings, staying up late at night. After I started working actively with our President, I tried to learn something from his ability to use time disciplined because he’s someone who uses his time very effectively.”
MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER INTELLIGENCE CHIEF
Ibrahim Kalın, who became interested in Turkish music during his high school years, learned to play the saz during those years. Music teacher Mithat Hoca was the person who taught him to play the saz and made him love music in the city of Alanya.
Kalın not only never put down the saz but also sang folk songs. In America, he even gave small concerts by forming a small music group with his friends.
He not only played the saz but also played the ney. In Turkey, folk songs he composed were sung by famous artists.
He was influenced by the famous philosopher Farabi’s books on music theory and described his interest in music like this:
“My relationship with music and art is not a hobby, not something I do to pass free time. I see it as part of my self-realization, my effort to make sense of existence. Because these are things that enrich me more, make my work more meaningful. These are things I try to do because they are inherently valuable and important.”
ADDING AN ACADEMIC DIRECTION TO INTELLIGENCE
It’s not very common for a philosophy professor to become intelligence chief. However, Kalın’s last 20 years were spent in intense engagement with politics, diplomacy, and security issues near Erdogan. He became familiar with all the security and diplomacy files Turkey was involved in. Therefore, when MIT Chief Hakan Fidan became Foreign Minister, he was appointed as MIT Chief by President Erdogan in June 2023. It is said that this appointment was influenced not only by Ibrahim Kalın’s bureaucratic career but also by the sense of trust that developed between him and Erdogan.
After Kalın became MIT Chief, he began dealing with very serious files. He fought against terrorist organizations like PKK, ISIS, Al-Qaeda, FETO. He played an active role in achieving a ceasefire in the Gaza war where a major genocide was taking place. During this time, he dismantled a large Mossad agent network operating in Turkey. On August 1, 2024, he enabled the hostage exchange of 7 countries including the US, Russia, and Germany to take place in Ankara, in one of the biggest exchange operations in recent history.
During his presidency, Ibrahim Kalın began to reflect his academic side on the institution’s functioning. One of his first actions was to establish an Intelligence Academy. Here, he started master’s and doctorate level security, intelligence, and geopolitical studies. The Intelligence Academy also published regular reports on crisis issues around the world.
Thus, Kalın somehow combined his academic side with intelligence as well. Surprisingly, even while being intelligence chief, he wrote another book titled “Islam, Enlightenment and Future” during that intensity.
WHAT WILL HE DO IN THE BALANCE OF SECURITY AND FREEDOM?
The balance of security and freedom, one of politics’ oldest debates, is an extremely critical issue for every country. Turkey is one of the rare countries that has experienced very painful experiences and discussions on these two issues. Because serious wars, terrorism, migration, and civil wars are happening around the country, in its neighbors. These conflict environments often cause intense migration, terrorist acts, and even military coups inside Turkey.
During these events, Turkey, whose security sensitivity increases, also becomes the center of discussions about restrictions on freedoms. Ibrahim Kalın was someone whose democratic side was more prominent, consistently emphasizing coexistence, peaceful existence with all ethnic and religious structures, and democracy in the books, articles, and interviews he wrote. Now he has become the main actor in these discussions by being at the head of the most important institution of the security bureaucracy.
Kalın spoke in public once as MIT Chief. At the ceremony held on the occasion of MIT’s foundation anniversary and the establishment of the Intelligence Academy, he announced his policy as “ensuring security without giving up freedoms”. He summarized this approach with this sentence: “Security is for freedom”. It’s not difficult to guess how difficult it will be to implement his pro-freedom stance in the Middle East geography that has become a ring of fire. However, we have begun to see its effects partially in Syria.
Ibrahim Kalın will probably continue to be a center of attention as the only philosopher, musician, and academician among intelligence chiefs in the world.
Source: https://aja.ws/zvc2z4
