UNRWA’s Pivot To Ankara Cements a Future for Hamas in Turkey

A conduit for terrorism has found a new home. On January 8, the Commissioner-General for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Philippe Lazzarini met with Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan and announced that the agency plans to open an Ankara office “within weeks.”

UNRWA: A Facilitator for Hamas

Given UNRWA’s well-documented history of diverting funds and embedding Hamas operatives in its schools and facilities — and Turkey’s equally established record under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of providing material and political support to Hamas — the decision to open a UNRWA office in Turkey creates a permissive new hub for the terror group to rebuild its financial networks, operational infrastructure, and international reach.

Turkey Is Happy To Host UNRWA — and Hamas

Relocating the organization to Turkey is not a random choice. In fact, The UN agency’s plans to open an office in Turkey long predate the Israeli parliament’s vote to revoke its operating license as of January 1. Ankara signed a host country agreement with UNRWA in June 2024. In November 2025, the Erdogan government’s official register published a parliamentary resolution approving UNRWA’s plans to build and operate an Ankara office. While UNRWA has offices around the world, it has singled out Ankara to be its main supply center for aid for Palestinians, and an aid junction for partner states in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks on Israel, Erdogan has repeatedly described Hamas as a “resistance” movement, including during his most recent visit to Washington in September 2025. As Israel’s campaign against Hamas has unfolded, Erdogan directed the Turkish state to provide political and material support to the group. Hamas operates openly in Turkey, where it has planned and coordinated attacks against Israel and where senior leaders have been hosted — some of whom have even received Turkish passports. The organization also runs a network of money changers and financiers inside Turkey to raise and move terror funds, activities that continue with the tacit approval of Erdogan’s government.

Denying Terror a Home Improvement

Allowing UNRWA to establish a base in Turkey would give Erdogan another vehicle to provide institutional and political cover for Hamas under the facade of humanitarian engagement. U.S. officials should make clear to Ankara that hosting an organization the White House has warned was “infiltrated by members of groups long designated by the Secretary of State as terrorist organizations” is incompatible with the obligations of a NATO ally.

Turkey’s willingness to host UNRWA should be treated as further evidence of its unfitness to participate in any international stabilization force in Gaza. Ankara has proposed deploying up to 2,000 Turkish troops as part of a postwar framework — an idea firmly rejected by Israel — and Turkey’s continued tolerance of terrorist-linked entities only reinforces why its military presence near Gaza would risk enabling, rather than restraining, Hamas.

Sinan Ciddi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where William Doran is an intern. For more analysis from Sinan and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Sinan on X @SinanCiddi. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.