Israel Matzav

Davutoglu says Turkish intelligence agency 'doing its job' by exposing Israeli agents in Iran

In a Friday night interview with a Turkish television station, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlusaid that Turkey's intelligence agency was 'doing its job' by exposing Israeli spies in Iran. This is from the first link.

“When you read these articles, [Turkish intelligence chief] Hakan Fidan is accused of establishing an independent intelligence structure and not letting other intelligence agencies operate in Turkey. Therefore, he is being blamed for doing his job,” Davutoğlu said in a live interview on private broadcaster Kanal 7 aired on the night of Oct. 18.

Davutoğlu’s remarks came a day after veteran Washington Post columnist David Ignatius claimed that Turkey blew the cover on a group of Israeli spies, disclosing their names to Iranian intelligence, while noting that Fidan was considered “suspect” by Israeli authorities due to his “close” ties to Tehran.

Another article published in the Wall Street Journal last week claimed that Fidan championed the idea of sending weapons to the Syrian opposition without any discrimination.

Referring in particular to Ignatius’ article, Davutoğlu said the accusations against Fidan were contradictory. “These [claims] are so inconsistent that on the one hand it is said Fidan is close to Iran, but in the same article, he is accused of supporting groups who fight against Iran’s influence. This is a very serious accusation. None of our officials act on behalf of any other country,” Davutoğlu said, adding that intelligence represented the state’s “privacy.”

“If this privacy is not used by the state’s units to serve only that people, your strategy can’t succeed … Turkey is not a country where other intelligence units can comfortably perform operations. This is a requirement of independence,” Davutoğlu said.

“I am not saying that the claims are true, but after all, every intelligence agency works for the interest of its own country,” he said.

Davutoğlu also said Fidan had become the head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) after gaining “everyone’s credit” after taking part in negotiations with Israel and authorities in Gaza.

He also said there were “open threats” targeting Fidan. “This is the day to stand for Fidan, who has been the target of these accusations. Fidan is not doing this work for his personal interests but for Turkey,” Davutoğlu said.

Turkey is blaming Israel (of course) for what it sees as a coordinated attack on its intelligence agencies. 

“We see this media campaign as an attack and there might be an Israeli effort behind it,” a Turkish intelligence source said on the phone yesterday. “Especially after the Washington Post story on Oct. 17 and the follow-ups with Jerusalem bylines.”

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Sources in Ankara believe that besides trying to defame Turkey in U.S. eyes as a country tolerating terrorists like Iran – and because of its “independent tack” on Syria, amid an effort to try and corner it in a possible move in the U.S. Congress – Israel might have had another motivation. That might be, according to those sources who asked not to be named, an attempt to avoid paying compensation for the nine Turks killed by Israeli commandoes on May 31, 2010, on board the Mavi Marmara on its way to carry humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

After the official apology from Netanyahu (which was brokered by Obama) on March 24, talks started for compensation to the families of the victims, albeit with no result, as Israel does not want to make the payments in the form of “compensation,” according to Israeli diplomatic sources talking to HDN.

Also, Erdoğan’s close relations with Hamas are another source of disturbance between the two. By coincidence, Khaled Mashaal, the leader of Hamas, was received by Erdoğan in his office in Ankara on Oct. 9, the same day that the WSJ story published.

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It is unclear whether an Israeli “plot” is behind the obvious campaign against Turkey’s intelligence chief and whether it is aimed at Erdoğan’s foreign policy choices, especially regarding the greater Middle East. Turkey is criticized at home and abroad for being distanced from the European Union and getting too involved with the uncertainties of the Middle East. Both the recent EU Progress Report, which calls for Turkey to foster higher standards of democracy to keep up with its European venture, and the Geneva Conference on Syria might be chances to fine-tune Turkish foreign policy. 

The problem with the Mavi Marmara negotiations isn't the word 'compensation'; it's that the Turks want to Israel to 'admit' guilt. That's just not going to happen.

In the meantime, former (and maybe to be again) Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman says that Israel should stop deluding itself that relations with Turkey are ever going to improve.

“My opposition to apologizing to Turkey is not new, and I expressed it clearly before and after it happened,” Liberman wrote on his Facebook page, referring to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s March 22 apology for the Israeli takeover of Gaza protest ship Mavi Marmara in 2010.

“I reasoned and explained that it will not improve relations between the countries but will only harm Israel’s standing in the region and play into the hands of extremists in the Middle East, with Turkey under Islamist extremist [President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan among them,” Liberman continued.

“I am therefore not surprised by Turkey’s accusation that Israel is behind the report in The Washington Post about ‘revealing spies to Iran,’ and I don’t even know if there was such a spy ring.”

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“I hope we will all stop deluding ourselves and understand the situation in which we live, and the difference between what we want and what exists,” Liberman wrote.

Liberman has it right. Israel has to stop deluding itself, stop succumbing to pressure from Obama, and write Turkey off completely. It's long past time.

Labels: Ahmet Davutoglu, Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, intelligence, Iran, Iranian nuclear threat, Mavi Marmara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spying, Turkey, Turkish anti-Semitism, Turkish obsession with Israel

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:49 AM