"Although MIT’s clandestine activities in Greece are widely known, the document is a rare piece of evidence "
Turkey accused of spying on Greek refugees to catch critics
Secret documents reveal that Turkish intelligence allegedly spied on Greek refugee camps to gather information on anti-government Gulen members.
Monday 20/04/2020
"Although MIT’s clandestine activities in Greece are widely known, the document is a rare piece of evidence "
ANKARA - The Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) infiltrated refugee camps in Greece in order to spy and gather information on critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime, secret documents obtained by the Nordic Monitor reveal.
“The document exposes Turkey’s surveillance of refugees and migrants in Greece in order to identify names, plans and whereabouts of those who were persecuted by the Erdogan regime even while abroad," Nordic Monitor said.
The documents show that MIT gathered information in order to identify the names and whereabouts of members of the Gulen movement, which Erdogan blames for 2016’s failed coup attempt against him.
Gulen members had fled to Greece to avoid unprecedented persecution in Turkey, where thousands were arrested in the purge that followed the failed attempt to overthrow the president.
"Although MIT’s clandestine activities in Greece are widely known, the document is a rare piece of evidence that confirms such operations on foreign soil," the Nordic Monitor said.
Ankara prosecutor Adem Akinci oversaw a criminal investigation into several Gulenists living abroad, among them a Turkish journalist living in Denmark who had to be moved into a safe place by Danish intelligence in 2017 following credible death threats.
According to a report by the Stockholm Center for Freedom, 96,719 teachers and academics were purged from Turkey’s public and private educational institutions.
Some 20,000 instructors were jailed and 34,185 public school teachers and 5,719 academics were arbitrarily fired, including professors from state universities in the 2016-2017 period.
The ruling Justice and Development party (AKP) once had warm relations with the Gulen movement, but cut ties after Gulen-linked prosecutors and judges launched corruption probes against senior government figures in 2013.
The movement, led by exiled leader Fetullah Gulen, is widely known to have used its large network to infiltrate state institutions, such as education, to further its own agenda.