Profile of Jonathan Powell, the man who turned Jolani into Sharaa and disarmed the PKK

According to a new claim, Jonathan Powell, the founder of the British intelligence-linked organization Inter Mediate, who turned Syrian HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Jolani into President Ahmed al-Sharaa, is also the person who convinced the PKK to lay down its arms with the promise of a “Türkiye without terror.”

A profile published in the London-based Saudi publication Al Majalla, written by Con Coughlin, lists the mediations previously conducted by Powell as part of “conflict resolution.” Powell has been appointed as the National Security Advisor (NSA) to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the new Labour government.

Powell, who was the chief of staff to then-Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007, was appointed as the United Kingdom’s new National Security Advisor by the current Prime Minister Starmer in November 2024.

Critics of Powell, who was Blair’s longest-serving advisor and is known as the negotiator of the “Good Friday” Peace Agreement in Northern Ireland, argue that the NSA role should be apolitical. They also point to Powell’s involvement in the September 2024 agreement that led to the UK ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This is seen as a controversial move because the island chain hosts a top-secret US military base on Diego Garcia.

Born in 1956, Powell has a diverse background, including working for the American investment bank Morgan Stanley and as a journalist for the BBC and Granada ITN.

In 2011, he founded the charity Inter Mediate to use his experience as a British chief negotiator to “help resolve complex conflicts.”

The relationship of this mysterious organization with the British intelligence agencies MI6 and SAS is now an open secret.

In 2014, he also served as the special envoy to Libya for then-Prime Minister David Cameron.

According to Al Majalla, Powell, the author of several books, brings his diplomatic experience as his most important asset to his current role. In addition to Northern Ireland, it is noted that he conducted successful negotiations with ETA in the Basque region, was involved in negotiations with FARC in Colombia, and took part in peace talks in Mozambique.

Al Majalla describes Powell’s role as follows:

“The National Security Advisor (NSA) is the principal advisor to the Prime Minister and Cabinet on national security matters. This role covers strategy, policy, capability, and civil contingencies. He is also the Secretary to the National Security Council and head of the national security teams in the Cabinet Office, meaning he works across all Whitehall departments and overseas.”

An important part of this role is a network of “international stakeholders, business, industry, and civil society groups.” According to his profile, some of Powell’s connections date back to his days studying history at Oxford or later at the University of Pennsylvania. He likely met many of his sources during his early career in journalism before joining the Foreign Office in 1979.

Appointed as First Secretary to Lisbon in 1981, Stockholm in 1986, then Vienna, and the UK’s Washington, D.C. Embassy in 1991, Powell participated as an observer in Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. It was Powell who introduced Blair to the new US president following Clinton’s election victory.

According to the profile, after Blair became the leader of the Labour Party, he asked Powell to be his chief of staff. In the early years of the Blair government, one of Powell’s top priorities was the Northern Ireland peace process, which would culminate in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Powell later advocated for the tactics successfully applied in Northern Ireland to be used during the “War on Terror.”

Coming to the present day, Powell’s agenda appears to be busy once again. According to Al Majalla, it was Powell who welcomed Bangladesh’s interim leader, Muhammad Yunus, on his first official visit to the UK last month.

The report claims that Powell was in Istanbul the week the PKK announced it would lay down its arms at the call of Abdullah Öcalan. There, he met with the Ukrainian delegation present for peace talks with Russia, having met with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv just days before.

Ahead of the now-canceled Israel-Palestine peace summit, Powell was tasked with explaining the UK’s position on recognizing a Palestinian state to “uneasy” members of parliament.

According to Al Majalla, Powell’s presence behind the scenes is highly influential. Late last year, before Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, it was Powell’s charity, Inter Mediate, that took on the mediating role with both the HTS-led jihadist groups and the PKK.

Al Majalla claims it was Powell who convinced the PKK to disband.

Powell had also met with Ahmed al-Sharaa, then known as Abu Muhammad al-Jolani, in May 2021.

Al Majalla summarizes the “behind-the-scenes” activities of Powell and Inter Mediate as follows:

“His influence extends to personnel. Powell’s former close colleagues are taking on advisory roles as the fledgling administration tries to find its feet in Damascus. Inter Mediate is said to have an office in the presidential palace. A Turkish source recently provided crucial information to The National. ‘Jonathan Powell played an important role in handling these very sensitive issues,’ the source says. ‘He is like a foreign minister. Powell plays a more important role in the Middle East than [UK Foreign Secretary] David Lammy.'”

According to a report in The National, last year “a delegation of Turkish and Kurdish MPs” traveled to the UK and Ireland to learn about the Good Friday Agreement. Ayla Akat, one of the Kurdish MPs, recalled Powell comparing the negotiations to riding a bicycle: “You have to keep pedaling, or you will fall off.”

Working with the UK-based think tank Democratic Progress Institute, Powell and his team developed a program drawing on lessons from Northern Ireland. The team briefed MPs from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The source said, “The American thinking was that one day there would be a withdrawal from Syria. When that day came, they did not want the Kurds in Syria to enter into conflict with Türkiye. They wanted to prepare the ground for that.”

According to a source, the US under the Biden administration reached out to Türkiye to propose a deal with the PYD. The overall situation rapidly evolved into a full-fledged peace process. PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan appeared on camera this month for the first time in over two decades. Öcalan told the group to lay down their arms and turn to non-violent politics because “the strategy of a national liberation war has ended.”

The report states that the UK also became involved in these talks, and Powell’s company, Inter Mediate, has long-standing relationships with the PYD and Türkiye under a contract with the UK.

According to The National, after Jolani moved to Damascus, two advisors from Inter Mediate also went to the Presidential Palace, completing the task undertaken by the charity under what appears to be a legacy contract.

Inter Mediate’s executive director, Claire Hajaj, and its director of long-term projects, Lucy Stuart, are advising the presidential office in Damascus, which seeks to rebuild the government in Syria.

Inter Mediate features Powell prominently on its website, highlighting his role as “one of the key architects of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement” in Northern Ireland. It states that Powell founded the organization to “share the lessons from the Northern Ireland peace talks and to help other leaders facing similar dilemmas.”

It also notes how Powell helped end the Basque conflict in Spain, served as a “peace advisor” to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and worked with Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi to end the country’s civil war.

After returning to government in November, Powell resigned from the charity in accordance with UK law, and there has been no information since then about his involvement in Inter Mediate’s activities.

According to the report, there are complaints within the Labour Party’s parliamentary group about the power held by Powell and Liz Lloyd, the Director of Policy Implementation, who was once Powell’s deputy under the Blair administration, with rumors of a “power grab” circulating.

The opposition Conservatives have seized on this situation, calling for a parliamentary inquiry to investigate why Powell was given the status of a special advisor instead of a direct ministerial appointment. This status means Powell does not have to answer to Parliament, despite negotiating directly with foreign governments on behalf of the UK and leading the talks on the handover of the Chagos Islands.

Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Alex Burghart, said this month, “It is scandalous enough that we cannot question his role in the surrender of the Chagos, but now it emerges he has been using his private organisation to establish secret channels with terrorist groups. Parliament should be able to question him on this. If the government had nothing to hide, they would not be going to such lengths to keep Powell out of the cold light of scrutiny.”

The profile concludes:

“Whether Powell will face an inquiry is now in Starmer’s hands, but even the most cursory glance at Powell’s diplomatic career shows that he performs best behind the scenes, away from the public eye. One wonders if the real issue for the opposition is the results he so often achieves.”