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Paul Biggar, founder and CEO of Tech for Palestine, is scheduled to speak at the TRT World Forum 2026, organized by Turkey’s state broadcaster on November 6–7 in Istanbul. The event will also feature Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, former Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Academy, and a Russian military analyst identified as an FSB agent by Estonia’s foreign intelligence service.
Biggar previously defended membership in Hamas and disputed reports of sexual violence committed during the terrorist organization’s October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. In an April 16, 2024 article on his personal website, he wrote that “being a member of Hamas is not illegal or even wrong” and asserted there was “little to no evidence of any rapes by Hamas on October 7”.
According to the forum’s official website, Erdoğan is listed among the inauguration speakers, while Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who previously directed Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) for 13 years, is listed as a keynote speaker. Fidan maintains direct contacts with Hamas leaders, including a meeting earlier this month with the terrorist organization’s political leadership.
The conference’s speaker roster identifies several additional participants with connections to intelligence services, Hamas, organizations accused of supporting terrorism, and Turkish government-linked institutions.
Turkish Intelligence Links and Continuing Hamas Contacts
Fidan, who directed Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) from 2010 until becoming foreign minister in 2023, was the subject of an October 2013 Wall Street Journal investigation reporting that U.S. intelligence officials suspected his agency of passing sensitive Western intelligence to Iran. Citing current and former senior U.S. and Middle Eastern officials, the newspaper reported that the CIA began suspecting MİT in 2010 and that American officials believed the agency had passed several intelligence items to Tehran, including classified U.S. assessments about the Iranian government. The reporting also described allegations that sensitive intelligence collected by the United States and Israel had been shared with Iran.
Fidan has also maintained a longstanding working and personal relationship with Hamas’s senior leadership, dating back to his years directing Turkey’s intelligence agency. In a July 2024 interview, he acknowledged working “very closely” with Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal until 2017, before developing a working relationship with his successor, Ismail Haniyeh. Following Haniyeh’s assassination in July 2024, Fidan described their friendship as spanning many years, praised the Hamas leader’s religious devotion, and said he felt privileged to have known and worked with him.
Fidan’s contacts with Hamas have continued as foreign minister. In October 2024, he offered condolences to Hamas officials following the killing of Yahya Sinwar. A year later, he joined Turkey’s serving intelligence chief, İbrahim Kalın, for a meeting with senior Hamas leaders in Doha. Most recently, on October 9, 2026, Turkey’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that Fidan met Hamas political bureau chief Khalil al-Hayya in Ankara.
Another listed speaker is Talha Köse, president of Turkey’s National Intelligence Academy, an institution established within MİT, according to Anadolu. The academy conducts postgraduate education and research in intelligence, security, and strategic affairs.
Russian Speaker Identified as FSB Agent by Estonian Intelligence
Another notable speaker is Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), a defense research institution with extensive connections to Russia’s military establishment. In its 2024 intelligence report, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service explicitly identified Pukhov as an FSB agent who regularly reports on his foreign contacts to his handler, Alexander Vinnichenko, an officer in the FSB’s Department for Counterintelligence Operations.
According to the report, Pukhov supplies Vinnichenko with information about meetings involving Western diplomats, university researchers, and foreign policy experts. The Estonian service also reported that Pukhov coordinates his participation in international events with his handler, including engagements involving institutions in Turkey, the United States, and Britain.
The same report stated that CAST offered a reward of one million rubles in September 2022 for obtaining an Estonian-made THeMIS unmanned military vehicle deployed in Ukraine and delivering it to Russia’s Defense Ministry.
IHH Researcher Listed on 2025 Programme Featuring Hamas Representative
Another TRT World Forum speaker, Riad Domazeti, is a researcher with the Istanbul-based Humanitarian and Social Research Center (INSAMER), which identifies itself as part of the IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation. IHH is a Turkish organization with a longstanding history of controversy over its alleged connections to Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
An April 2025 program published by the Kocaeli-based KİVA foundation listed Domazeti as a presenter at a symposium on war and Islamic civilization, where he was scheduled to discuss IHH’s humanitarian diplomacy in Syria. The same day’s program advertised a separate presentation by Dr. Ayman AlMabhouh, identified explicitly as representing the “Hamas Resistance Movement.” His scheduled presentation was titled, “The Palestinian Resistance Movement’s Understanding of Jihad.”
IHH was also identified as a member of the Union of Good, an umbrella network of more than 50 Islamic charities and foundations involved in channeling funds to Hamas institutions in the Palestinian territories. Israel outlawed IHH in 2008 because of its affiliation with the Union of Good and its role in Hamas fundraising, according to the same assessment. The U.S. Treasury designated the Union of Good in November 2008, describing it as an organization created by Hamas leaders to facilitate financial transfers to Hamas-controlled institutions in the West Bank and Gaza.
In a June 2010 briefing, the U.S. State Department also stated that IHH representatives had met senior Hamas officials in Turkey, Syria, and Gaza.
A 2025 study by Israel’s Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center stated that IHH had identified with global jihadist organizations from its early years and had “maintained a close relationship with al-Qaeda.” According to the study, IHH helped facilitate the transfer of jihadist fighters to Bosnia during the 1990s and recruited operatives for al-Qaeda in Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan.
An earlier 2010 Israeli assessment also characterized IHH as close to the Muslim Brotherhood and accused it of supporting global jihadist networks. In January 2014, Reuters reported that Turkish counterterrorism police raided IHH’s office in Kilis during a broader operation targeting suspected al-Qaeda links.
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Reportedly Met Hamas Delegation
The speaker roster also includes Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, who was reportedly involved in a meeting with senior Hamas representatives earlier this year. On April 25, Anadolu reported that Hamas had announced meetings with Malaysian officials, including Zahid.
The delegation included Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau in Gaza, and Fawzi Barhoum, deputy head of its Arab and Islamic relations office. According to Hamas’s statement, the discussions concerned Palestinian affairs, ceasefire negotiations, and strengthening relations with Malaysia.
Erdoğan-Linked Business Network’s U.S. Lobbying Activities
Another scheduled speaker is Burhan Özdemir, president of the Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association (MÜSİAD), an influential Turkish business organization closely associated with Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Özdemir was elected president of MÜSİAD in May 2025 at a general assembly attended by Erdoğan. During the event, Erdoğan recalled that MÜSİAD had accepted him as its first honorary member in 1999, describing the organization’s longstanding support for him.
MÜSİAD operates an American branch, MÜSİAD USA, which has previously participated in political advocacy aligned with Ankara’s positions. A March 2018 report by the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) described MÜSİAD USA as the American branch of an Erdoğan-aligned business network. The report documented its participation alongside other pro-Erdoğan Turkish-American organizations in efforts to lobby Congress against American support for Kurdish forces in Syria, an effort also covered by Turkish media.
Speaker With Qatar Connections and a Meeting With Erdoğan’s Son
Another speaker, British Islamic scholar and publishing executive Sharif H. Banna, has documented connections to Qatar and members of Erdoğan’s family. According to his biography at the Islamic Institute for Development and Research, Banna served as an adviser to Qatar’s government and led an international strategic communications campaign concerning Islam and Muslims during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He also served on the founding advisory board of a research center at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, part of Qatar Foundation.
On April 27, 2026, Banna participated in a strategic dialogue in Kuala Lumpur alongside Bilal Erdoğan, the Turkish president’s son, according to an event photograph and caption distributed through Reuters Connect.
Banna also chairs the Deventi Group, a British publishing and media business whose Claritas Books division has published Al-Ma’thurat, a collection of Islamic devotional prayers compiled by Hasan al-Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. The book’s publisher information explicitly identifies its author as the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder.
Forum Programme Focuses on Turkish Influence, Gaza and American Power
The published programme for the November 6–7 conference includes panels titled “Türkiye: From Regional Power to Multi-Regional Actor,” “Gaza at the Intersection of International Law and Humanitarian Collapse,” and “The American Paradox in the International System.” Additional sessions will cover artificial intelligence, digital governance, international trade corridors, energy security, and the global economy.