Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MIT), which has been led by pro-Iranian figures under the directives of an Islamist government for the past decade, has reportedly established a specialized anti-Mossad unit within the agency, comprising veteran officers.
The assertion was made by Abdurrahman Şimşek, identified as a public relations agent and propagandist for MIT. Şimşek has been operating under the guise of a journalist at the Sabah daily, a media outlet considered a mouthpiece for the regime and owned by the family of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Within the organization [MIT] is a highly active and experienced unit engaged in the fight against Mossad. There are teams that are quite skilled, shall we say. They are aware of every step Mossad takes,” Şimşek said in an interview published by Sabah.
He went on to claim that MIT is the world’s first intelligence service to initiate operations against the Mossad network, delivering significant blows to Mossad assets in Turkey in recent years.
Şimşek is one of numerous MIT assets strategically placed within the Turkish media landscape to influence public opinion. His role involves disseminating false narratives, promoting the spy agency and amplifying talking points provided by Turkish government officials. He openly acknowledges his connections to the intelligence community and frequently boasts about them. He has been privy to leaks detailing purported actions undertaken by MIT against Israeli interests in Turkey and in third countries.
For example, in October 2020 Sabah ran a story reporting that 15 Arabs had been arrested on charges of allegedly working for Mossad to spy on Palestinian students at Turkish universities. The operation, which reportedly involved around 200 Turkish intelligence officers, was celebrated as a significant success by MIT. However, Israeli officials denied the allegations, claiming that none of the individuals apprehended were Mossad spies.
In May 2023 Sabah ran yet another story claiming that 15 suspects, allegedly working for Mossad, were apprehended on charges of spying on Iranian targets for Israel. Then, in November 2023, another report claimed that MIT played a role in rescuing a Palestinian hacker from Mossad captivity in Malaysia, where he was visiting a friend. The hacker, reportedly under MIT protection for several years in Turkey, is said to have developed hacking software capable of infiltrating Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system.
The MIT propagandist issued a warning that any action by Mossad against Hamas leaders in Istanbul could lead to a global backlash. He said targeting these individuals might elevate the risk to the lives of Israeli citizens and Jews worldwide, emphasizing that Hamas is now internationally recognized as an armed resistance group. The implication is that any harm to Hamas members could prompt retaliatory actions with potential consequences for Israelis and Jews globally.
Şimşek’s disclosure about MIT having a specialized unit targeting Mossad followed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warnings to Israel regarding reported Mossad assassination plans for Hamas members in Turkey. During a press briefing on his return flight from Qatar on December 4, 2023, Erdogan stated, “If they dare to take such a step against Turkey and the Turkish people, they will be doomed to pay a price from which they cannot recover.”
The Turkish president was responding to a Wall Street Journal article that claimed Israel was planning to target and kill Hamas members residing outside Palestine. He warned that those attempting such actions should be mindful of the potentially severe consequences.
In an unusual move, Turkish intelligence also addressed the claims through the state-run Anadolu news agency, stating unequivocally that it would never permit any plots orchestrated by Israeli intelligence.
In a recording aired by the Kan public broadcaster in early December, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said Israel is determined to kill Hamas’s leaders “in every location” in the world, including Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon, even if it takes many years.
“The cabinet set a goal for us, to take out Hamas. And we are determined to do it,” he added.
Israel intensified its campaign against Hamas following an attack in October 2023 when Hamas gunmen crossed the border from Gaza into Israel. According to Israeli officials, the assailants killed approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages.
Aiming to eliminate Hamas, Israel launched a retaliatory military offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 20,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
Hamas’s global network has faced heightened scrutiny in the aftermath of the attacks.
Turkey not only hosts Hamas leaders on its territory but also allows the organization to raise funds using the Turkish financial and banking systems. Turkey has also granted citizenship to many Hamas figures. President Erdogan has labeled Hamas fighters as liberators and rejected terrorism accusations against the group.
The revelation that Turkish intelligence established a special unit comprising veteran agents to target Mossad activities is not surprising, considering that both the current chief of the Turkish spy agency, İbrahim Kalın, and his predecessor, Hakan Fidan, are pro-Iranian Islamist figures.
Kalın had worked for the Iranian-funded, radical Islamist Yeryüzü magazine, which was shut down over its links to terrorism in the past. The magazine promoted an Iranian-style religious revolution in Turkey and was a focal point for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force in the Turkish capital in an indictment drafted by the chief prosecutor’s office at the State Security Courthouse in 2000.
The magazine ran viciously anti-Semitic and anti-Western content in every issue, endorsed violent and armed jihad and often portrayed prominent Iranian mullah figures as revered persons.
In an article titled “Geç Kalmış Bir Tanıtım” (A late introduction) published in the Kitap Dergisi (Book Journal) in December 1989, Kalın had praised Iran’s Islamic Revolution and its late leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, drawing on rhetoric from the mullah regime. Kalın characterized Khomeini as “the guide [rehber] of the uprising [kıyam],” “leader of the Islamic revolution,” “imam of revolutionary Muslims” and “an example of devout Muslims.
Fidan, the former spymaster who is currently the foreign minister, has cultivated links with Iranian intelligence since his time as a noncommissioned officer in the military.
According to confidential documents obtained during the course of an investigation into Quds Force cells in Turkey as part of a counterterrorism probe between 2011 and 2014, police discovered a collection of resumés handed over to Naser Ghafari, a Quds Force representative in Turkey. Among the CVs was a profile report on Fidan, then deputy undersecretary of MIT.
The CV noted that Fidan was a trusted man who shared the mullahs’ revolutionary vision and harbored anti-US and anti-Israel sentiment.
“He [Fidan] wants to wipe the United States and Israel from the face of the earth, he loves the [Iranian] revolution, he wants it to succeed, he believes the [Iranian] revolution is under the control of Shiite Muslims with universal views and he loves it for that,” the profile note said of Fidan in a document handed over to the Quds Force.
The same investigation also revealed Fidan’s meetings with Quds Force officials, explaining how he assigned them protective details from the intelligence agency during their visits to Turkey and even provided a private jet to transport them back to Tehran.
