A court in Turkey sentenced 37 defendants accused of collaborating with the Israeli Mossad and spying for Israel’s secret services to prison terms of up to 10 years. Since January, Turkish authorities have stepped up operations against Israeli spy networks based on Turkish territory that have been recruiting Turkish citizens and foreigners living in Turkey to spy on Palestinians and members of the Hamas group.
According to Turkish media reports, the 28th Supreme Criminal Court in Istanbul announced yesterday prison sentences for 37 of the 56 accused of spying for the Mossad on Turkish territory. Ahmet Koray Özgürün – a retired police officer – and Alperen Erkut – the only two who remained arrested – were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime of ‘obtaining prohibited information for espionage purposes’, although their sentences were eventually reduced to 8 years and 4 months.
Another 35 defendants were sentenced to 8 years in prison for the same offence, with their sentences finally reduced by the court to 6 years and 8 months due to mitigating circumstances, although those convicted will be banned from leaving the country. The defence lawyers had asked for the acquittal of the defendants on the grounds that there was no concrete evidence against their clients, who had also pleaded not guilty.
The report prepared by the Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office states that Israel‘s intelligence services set up a team of collaborators in Turkey, working remotely via mobile applications connected to the Internet, and whose aim was to provide resources remotely, transfer money to their sources via live courier and carry out tactical work on the ground against targets set up by Israeli espionage.
According to the prosecution, the first contact by the Israeli Mossad with a recruit to join the espionage network was made via encrypted messages on Telegram or WhatsApp or via social networks, only by text and never using video or voice messages. The ‘jobs’ were paid for via international money transfers, cryptocurrencies or couriers. For the more professional jobs, Mossad employed detectives, while those without specific training or who did not arouse suspicion were employed in Turkey for tactical work and communicated with each other via WhatsApp groups.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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