Thursday, June 26, 2025
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us
No Result
View All Result
Nordic Monitor
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
  • About Us

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry secured Schengen visa for Islamist foundation officials linked to Turkish intelligence

November 8, 2021
A A
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry secured Schengen visa for Islamist foundation officials linked to Turkish intelligence

Ismail Emanet (L), then the head of TÜGVA, and his deputy Seçkin Koç poses in front of presidential plane before departure for Brussels on May, 24, 2017.

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

 

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry helped two Islamist operatives linked to Turkish intelligence obtain a Schengen visa from the Belgian Consulate in Istanbul, using diplomatic channels to deliver an official communiqué and secure urgent approval.

According to leaked documents obtained by Nordic Monitor, the foreign ministry delivered a diplomatic note under the “most urgent” classification to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara on May 19, 2017, asking for its help in obtaining a Schengen visa from the Belgian Consulate in Istanbul for two officials from the Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA), run by the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

TÜGVA, which operates as an extension of Turkish intelligence under the cover of an NGO, has a secret mandate to recruit young people in Turkey and in diaspora communities abroad to help support the Islamist regime of President Erdoğan. The foundation runs dozens of dormitories across Turkey, has access to public schools under cultural cooperation schemes and actively promotes political Islam in line with the Muslim Brotherhood ideology.

In the communiqué the foreign ministry’s Directorate General for Protocol vouched for Ismail Emanet, the head of TÜGVA, and his deputy Seçkin Koç and declared that the purpose of their visit to Brussels was related to a NATO summit. Both operatives were embedded in the official delegation of President Erdoğan, who was scheduled to participate in the summit in Belgium on May 25.

 

Turkish Foreign Ministry’s urgent diplomatic note to the Belgian Embassy in Ankara: 

 

However, an internal memo leaked from the TÜGVA archives, also obtained by Nordic Monitor, shows that the two TÜGVA officials planned to have an audience with the president aboard his plane to discuss the foundation’s activities and obtain directives on how to pursue operations in Turkey and overseas.

The memo mentioned Khaled Mashal, the former Hamas leader and currently the head of Hamas’s politburo abroad; Tunisian Muslim Brotherhood figure Rashid al-Gannushi; and Bosnian Muslim politician Bakir Izetbegovic, formerly the Bosniak member of the Presidency of Bosnia, as figures TÜGVA could reach out to as part of its plan to mobilize youth in Turkey and invite them to a major youth convention there.

The memo also indicated that the TÜGVA operatives were set to talk on the plane to Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and Erdoğan’s chief advisor and spokesman, İbrahim Kalın, to identify study areas the foundation ought to be focusing on in the future. TÜGVA organized a special project to train experts on specific countries and place them in government jobs to help steer Turkish foreign policy. References provided by the foundation have helped thousands gain access to government jobs, often on the basis of ideological zealotry, with a total disregard of merit and without a competitive and transparent selection process.

 

Turkey Youth Foundation (TÜGVA) headquarters in Istanbul.

 

In many cases, references from Turkish jihadist charity the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief (İnsan Hak ve Hürriyetleri ve İnsani Yardım Vakfı, or IHH), which helped both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), played a significant role in landing government jobs as revealed in the leaked emails of Erdoğan’s son in-law Berat Albayrak in the fall of 2016.

It is clear that the Erdoğan government secretly directed the operations of the foundation and used a presidential trip to attend a NATO summit as a cover to discuss policy goals and methods of implementation. TÜGVA is also active in a number of diaspora communities across Europe, and foundation officials move around freely on visas secured by the government to expand the network abroad.

 

TÜGVA’s letter to the Belgian Consulate in Istanbul: 

 

At the time the foreign ministry’s communiqué was drafted, Emanet was the president of TÜGVA. He now serves as a member of the foundation’s High Advisory Board along with Bilal Erdoğan. In a separate letter to the Belgian Consulate in Istanbul, a TÜGVA employee named Mahmut Emin Yalçınkaya, Emanet’s secretary, informed the consulate that Emanet and his deputy would attend the NATO summit and requested the speedy issuance of visas. The letter did not explain in what capacity TÜGVA would be present at the NATO meeting. The letter was submitted along with the foreign ministry’s communiqué.

Interestingly enough, the four-page visa application documents submitted to the consulate listed Emanet’s employer not as TÜGVA but as İstanbul Gas Distribution Industry and Trade, Inc. (İGDAŞ), a company owned and operated by the Istanbul Greater Municipality, which was under the control of Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) at the time.

 

Internal TÜGVA memo describes the topics to be discussed by the foundation’s top official with President Erdoğan aboard the plane on their way to Brussels: 

 

İGDAŞ is Turkey’s largest gas distribution network and was used by the government as a place to install cronies and partisans who drew salaries but actually never worked there. When the opposition won the local Istanbul elections in 2019, many including Emanet who were employed by the gas company had to leave.

The authenticity of the documents, memos and other materials were verified by Enes Eminoğlu, the current head of TÜGVA, who admitted that someone from inside had leaked them.

 

ShareTweet
Previous Post

Turkish diplomats spied on Erdoğan critics in Laos

Next Post

Official document reveals Turkey granted citizenship to a sponsor of terrorism 

Abdullah Bozkurt

Abdullah Bozkurt

[email protected]

Next Post
Official document reveals Turkey granted citizenship to a sponsor of terrorism 

Official document reveals Turkey granted citizenship to a sponsor of terrorism 

US designated key operatives of IRGC Quds Force who work with Turkey’s intelligence chief

Israel kills Iranian Quds Force General Shahriyari once protected by Erdogan in Turkey

June 26, 2025
Top forensic expert jailed for identifying weapons sent to jihadists by Turkey’s intel agency

Turkish intelligence secretly shipped arms to ISIS terrorist group in Syria

June 25, 2025
Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

June 23, 2025
Turkish intelligence knew of ISIS safe houses before Reina attack, yet took no action

Turkish intelligence knew of ISIS safe houses before Reina attack, yet took no action

June 18, 2025
Kazakh medical student’s life upended by Turkish intelligence over false allegations

Kazakh medical student’s life upended by Turkish intelligence over false allegations

June 16, 2025
Turkey’s aggressive spying activities on German soil continue, secret document reveals

Germany accuses Turkey of endangering public security, conducting covert operations targeting dissidents

June 13, 2025
Turkish spies who tortured victim kidnapped from Kosovo protected by judiciary

Turkish spies who tortured victim kidnapped from Kosovo protected by judiciary

June 12, 2025
Turkish spy agency MIT disrupts Christian lives amid false allegations

Turkish spy agency MIT disrupts Christian lives amid false allegations

June 11, 2025
Ankara cautious after Israel detains Turks on Gaza aid ship, avoids escalation with ‘secret’ trade partner

Ankara cautious after Israel detains Turks on Gaza aid ship, avoids escalation with ‘secret’ trade partner

June 10, 2025
Espionage trial uncovers MIT surveillance of foreign diplomats in Turkey

Espionage trial uncovers MIT surveillance of foreign diplomats in Turkey

June 9, 2025

Nordic Monitor

Nordic Monitor is a news web site and tracking site that is run by the Stockholm-based Nordic Research and Monitoring Network. It covers religious, ideological and ethnic extremist movements and radical groups, with a special focus on Turkey.

Tags

al-Qaeda Andrei Karlov China coup Cyprus Diyanet Egypt espionage Germany Greece Gülen Movement Hakan Fidan Hamas Hulusi Akar Ibrahim Kalın IHH Iran IRGC Quds Force ISIL ISIS Isis al-qaida Israel Libya Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı MIT Muslim Brotherhood NATO President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Profiling Qatar Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Russia SADAT spying Spying Activities Suleyman Soylu Sweden Syria Torture Turkey Turkish Intelligence Agency Turkish intelligence agency MIT Ukraine United States

Recent News

US designated key operatives of IRGC Quds Force who work with Turkey’s intelligence chief

Israel kills Iranian Quds Force General Shahriyari once protected by Erdogan in Turkey

June 26, 2025
Top forensic expert jailed for identifying weapons sent to jihadists by Turkey’s intel agency

Turkish intelligence secretly shipped arms to ISIS terrorist group in Syria

June 25, 2025
Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

Turkish President Erdogan’s operative in the US put on airline blacklist

June 23, 2025

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Extremism
  • Military
  • Terrorism and Crime
  • Intelligence
  • Foreign Policy
  • Contact Us
    • Give us a tip!
  • About Us

Copyright © Nordic Research and Monitoring Network All rights reserved.