FATA

This is the English abbreviation.

We can translate “The Federally Administered Tribal Areas” as Federal Yönetilen Kabile Alanları.

When we take a quick look at dear Google, it is described as “a semi-autonomous federal region in Pakistan, located in the northwestern part of the country along the border with Afghanistan, with Peshawar as its political and economic administrative center, and consisting mostly of Pashtun-origin tribes and clans.”

There is also information that it is one of Pakistan's high-level administrative units.

Within the country, it only shares borders with the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

An estimated 3.5 million people live within its 27 thousand 220 square kilometer area.

We are talking about a piece of land that is only one-thirtieth the size of Pakistan. The number of people living here corresponds to one-sixtieth of the country's population.

We say “estimated” because, until now, no one from the central administration has conducted a census there, or has been able to.

It is not a place where official personnel can simply walk in and out.

Although FATA is called “semi-autonomous,” it is a region governed entirely by Sharia, where many tribes act independently, enforce their own laws, and tribal and family ties are extremely strong.

The literacy rate is extremely low, and healthcare services are almost non-existent.

The vast majority of the population lives in rural areas. It is said that they make a living from agriculture and animal husbandry, but the business they actually make money from is smuggling.

Donations made to mosques and madrasas amount to a good sum. Despite this, poverty drips from the hems of the people on the street.

This is also where the Taliban feeds as a human resource.

At the same time, it exports jihadists abroad.

Warlords in Afghanistan, who have become well-off from the drug trade, are very influential in FATA.

There are a total of 166 crossing points on the border. These are not roads where vehicles can speed along on flat plains. There are such steep and rugged slopes that most can only be traveled by donkeys and mules.

The Soviet Red Army stayed here for 10 years and still could not bring any of the crossing points under control.

Imagine that you are living in the Middle Ages in the 21st century!

If we put aside their weapons, Toyota Hilux pickup trucks, and walkie-talkies, it is impossible to see anything related to the modern world here.

When I went to Pakistan in 2007, I had the chance to visit a part of that region.

After returning, I wrote down my observations there in my book “Global Trap Moderate Islam.”

I suspect that not much has changed from 2007 to 2024.

What caught my attention the most at that time was that the relationship between the tribes in FATA and America was extremely good.

The logistical support it had provided for them to fight against Soviet Russia was still having an effect.

They were constantly directing the people living in FATA to be in a “resistance movement,” even though it had been almost 20 years since the Soviet occupation ended.

Despite this, we learned the reason why it did not want to dry up the source of jihadists with the emergence of an organization called ISIS in the Middle East like a burr in 9/11 and 2014.

In short, America was not neglecting the maintenance of its apparatus, which it would use against any country it wanted whenever it wanted, and it was not sparing its interest.

Another point that caught my attention was the influence of the religious figures in FATA on the madrasas, which had turned into a bleeding wound throughout Pakistan.

This small region had the potential to transform the whole of Pakistan politically and socially.

And over time, it had transformed it significantly!

The fact that Pakistani society could not break away from traditional family ties created a very suitable ground for this transformation.

The fact that madrasas are the only places where the public can receive education without having to part with large sums of money explains the issue sufficiently.

Without state aid, they are able to maintain their existence with the facilities provided by Islamic communities and zakat (alms).

Education lasts about 12 years. A boy given to a madrasa by his family at the age of 8 graduates at the age of 20 after going through the rigorous training of radical Islamism.

Since they only receive religious education, they leave the madrasa unaware of the modern world.

The annual education cost of students is an average of 600 dollars. This money is covered only by donations made to madrasas and zakat given.

The monthly expenses of all students studying in madrasas across Pakistan have been calculated at 1 billion 200 million dollars.

Let's ask the ten-point expert question.

Since the Pakistani government cannot cover such an amount, where do the madrasas find this money?

Warlords in Afghanistan transfer the money they earn from drug and arms smuggling to madrasas across Pakistan through the tribes and clans in FATA.

And the children who come out of these madrasas become ready soldiers for the Taliban!

They act in the direction of the orders of their imperialist masters, and when the time comes, they spread to the world; they are used as military, political, and strategic apparatuses.

Let's add a small note: Uyghur, Tajik, and Kyrgyz children also receive education in madrasas in FATA and across Pakistan.

Now let's get to the crux of the matter!

You know, the jihadists destroyed the Baath regime with the permission of America and Israel; now, everyone is wondering whether the country will be able to maintain its geographical integrity and political unity in the near future.

Where will the domino effect that this will create end when Syria is fragmented?

Of course, these issues are not black and white. There are too many shades of gray. Since we don't have a crystal ball, let's turn our heads and think about the examples in our immediate vicinity.

For example, even if Syria stays together in form, it is highly likely that a FATA-like region will emerge on our southern border under the protection of America.

If three or five Salafi emirates from Afrin to Aleppo and then to the Euphrates; and from the east bank of the Euphrates to Hasakah and Qamishli, the PKK's garrison statelet create so-called autonomous but de facto independent administrations where they can act as they please, there you have the Middle Eastern version of FATA.

There is no need to even change its name.

If they obsess over it too much, maybe they can call it FATA 2.0.

Of course, there will be those who believe in the encouragement Trump gave to Tayyip, but when we look at the issue by wearing our close-up glasses, the developments in Syria will hurt Turkey significantly. Let no one have any doubt about this.

Let's imagine that the jihadists just across the border are feeding and supporting the radical Islamists in Turkey.

Or let's imagine people in Turkey who have a mental affinity for takfiris sending their children to these madrasas, and how these children will turn into enemies of ordinary people after they return.

Or let's try to understand what kind of threat this could pose to our youth after they take over the production and trade of synthetic drugs in regions adjacent to Turkey.

I'm not even mentioning the hundreds of millions of dollars they will get their hands on...

It is possible to extend this, but let's keep it short.

Just looking at the Pakistan example is enough to see these and realize the danger facing Turkey; otherwise, let's put a period to our article by saying the rest is empty talk.