Erdoğan-Linked Coalition That Hosted Hamas Launches Global Gaza Campaign
The Palestine Support Platform’s Aug. 19 “Humanity’s Voice” campaign spans 17 countries and five continents, led by a former AK Party chief who met Hamas leaders and is closely tied to Bilal Erdoğan
Jewish Onliner is an independent publication. If you find our work valuable, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You can also subscribe to us on WhatsApp and Telegram. Follow us on Instagram, Discord, and X.
A Turkish coalition headed by Osman Nuri Kabaktepe is coordinating Gaza demonstrations and statements across at least 17 countries and five continents on Aug. 19. Kabaktepe is the current president of Palestine Support Platform (Filistin’e Destek Platformu) and formerly led Erdoğan’s AK Party organization in Istanbul.
The international campaign, called “Humanity’s Voice,” includes actions in Canada, Australia, Austria, South Africa and Brazil, among other countries. Turkish reporting identifies activity across Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia.
Kabaktepe says the Platform brings together roughly 30 Turkish civil-society organizations and coordinates Palestine-related activity spanning humanitarian aid, education, economics, law, communications, media and politics. The same meeting featured Erdoğan’s son Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, chairman of the board of trustees of İlim Yayma Vakfı, who described the Platform as strengthening coordination among Palestine-related initiatives in Turkey.
The coalition has also hosted Hamas leaders and publicly defended the group. At an August 2024 rally following the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, a manifesto issued on behalf of Palestine declared that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization” and described it as a resistance movement. The same event featured Hamas official Talal Nassar, who addressed the crowd.
From the AK Party to the Platform
Kabaktepe assumed the coalition’s rotating presidency at the end of 2025 as a representative of İlim Yayma Vakfı, a prominent Turkish religious education foundation. A December announcement from labor confederation HAK-İŞ said then-chairman Mehmet Güney formally transferred the Platform presidency to Kabaktepe as the foundation’s representative.
Only months earlier, Kabaktepe had left one of the most influential positions within Erdoğan’s party apparatus. The AK Party’s Istanbul branch confirmed that he handed over his position as provincial chairman on Feb. 8, 2025, after serving as the party’s top official in Turkey’s largest city.
The coalition also has repeated involvement from Bilal Erdoğan, the president’s son and chairman of the board of trustees of İlim Yayma Vakfı. HAK-İŞ documented Bilal Erdoğan attending Platform meetings alongside Kabaktepe in January and April 2026. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also met Platform members in Istanbul in October 2025.
Kabaktepe Has Personally Met With Hamas Leaders
Kabaktepe has personally held several meetings with senior Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh and Khalil al-Hayya. In May 2024, while serving as AK Party Istanbul chairman, he met Haniyeh. In January 2026, Kabaktepe posted photographs from another meeting with Hamas Political Bureau member Khalil al-Hayya and a Hamas delegation.
Kabaktepe has also publicly memorialized Hamas leaders. After Yahya Sinwar was killed by Israel in October 2024, he described Sinwar as a symbol of Gaza’s resistance and wrote in a social media post, “May his martyrdom be blessed.”
Platform Defended Hamas and Hosted Its Leaders
The coalition’s relationship with Hamas is documented most directly through accounts published by its own member organizations. Following Haniyeh’s killing in July 2024, the Palestine Support Platform organized an Aug. 3 gathering at Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia Square under the banner “Martyr Haniyeh’s Last Call.” Platform member ÖNDER said the event was organized in response to Haniyeh’s call for international mobilization in support of Gaza, according to its account.
Then-Platform chairman Ali Yalçın addressed the gathering and invoked Hamas figures Ahmed Yassin, Haniyeh and Abdel Aziz al-Rantisi. During the same event, ÖNDER president Abdullah Ceylan read a manifesto on behalf of the Palestine Support Platform declaring that Hamas was not a terrorist organization but a Palestinian resistance movement.
The gathering also featured Talal Nassar, whom ÖNDER identified as a Hamas leader, addressing the crowd directly. The Platform’s engagement with Hamas figures continued months later. Social media posts from October 2024 show senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri speaking at another Palestine Support Platform rally in Istanbul. A second Platform post from the demonstration stated, “Down with Genocidal Israel and the USA.”
IHH and Other Major Turkish NGOs
Among the groups publicly participating in the coalition is IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, one of Turkey’s largest international humanitarian organizations. IHH has repeatedly identified itself as part of the Platform and previously described the coalition as consisting of 15 organizations, according to its own website.
IHH has also faced longstanding scrutiny over its connections to Hamas. In 2010, the U.S. State Department confirmed that it was aware of IHH representatives meeting senior Hamas leaders in Turkey, Syria and Gaza. Israel has gone further, formally banning the Turkish foundation and describing it as part of Hamas’ charity network, according to its counter-terror financing authority.
Other organizations appearing in Platform campaigns include ÖNDER, HAK-İŞ and İlim Yayma Vakfı, alongside a broader network of Turkish religious, labor, educational and humanitarian institutions. The coalition’s activities also intersect with significant fundraising. On Aug. 13, Turkish business association MÜSİAD announced that a Gaza art auction had raised 160 million Turkish lira, with Kabaktepe and Bilal Erdoğan both speaking at the event.
MÜSİAD said the funds would be transferred into accounts controlled by Deniz Feneri Derneği and delivered to Gaza through the Palestine Support Platform, according to the organization’s announcement. The announcement did not identify the ultimate implementing organizations or recipients inside Gaza.
An Expanding International Network
The Aug. 19 campaign marks a significant international expansion for a coalition rooted in Erdoğan-aligned Turkish civil society. Its president recently led the AK Party in Istanbul, its meetings repeatedly include Bilal Erdoğan and senior Turkish figures, and its member organizations span political advocacy, media, education, humanitarian work and fundraising. The coalition has also publicly defended Hamas and repeatedly hosted its representatives.
Now, the same Platform says groups across at least 17 countries and five continents are participating in a synchronized Gaza campaign, extending a Turkish coalition with extensive political and civil-society connections into an increasingly international advocacy operation.