Home > Current Affairs News > While İmamoğlu is accused of espionage, the UK posts 'spy' recruitment ad in Turkey

While İmamoğlu is accused of espionage, the UK posts 'spy' recruitment ad in Turkey

While the increasing pressure on the opposition following the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu as part of an espionage investigation is being discussed, the fact that the UK held an 'intelligence officer wanted' campaign in Istanbul on September 19 has drawn attention. The call by a foreign country to recruit agents from Turkey, under the shadow of espionage accusations, has highlighted the contradiction regarding the espionage investigation.

12punto

CHP presidential candidate and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who has been detained in Silivri Prison since March 23, has also been arrested as part of the espionage investigation launched against him.

Within the scope of the same investigation, a trustee was appointed to TELE1, while journalist Merdan Yanardağ and Necati Özkan, who managed İmamoğlu's election campaign, were also arrested and sent to prison. Hüseyin Gün, described as the key figure in the investigation, became a confessor by benefiting from effective remorse provisions.

While the espionage accusation remains on the agenda, 12punto columnist Müyesser Yıldız, in her article titled “The British intelligence chief's espionage call in Istanbul... The terrorist leader's complaint... And the Tele 1 operation!..”, reported that the UK launched its international spy campaign from Turkey and noted the following:

“Moore, who became the head of MI6 after serving as Ambassador to Ankara between 2014-2018, held a press conference at the British Consulate General in Istanbul on September 19, together with the new Chief Blaise Metreweli, who will take over the position from him on October 1.

The reason for this meeting by Moore, who refers to Turkey as his 'second home,' was to introduce a project called 'Silent Courier,' which they developed to communicate with spies from other countries around the world, especially Russia, and to obtain secret information. Indeed, before Moore, British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper had said about the project, 'MI6 will be able to recruit new spies for the UK in Russia and all over the world.'

Richard Moore did not just introduce the project and call for those who want to work as agents at that meeting; he also emphasized that they are conducting close cooperation with the former head of MIT, Hakan Fidan, and the current head, İbrahim Kalın.”

Journalists Barış Terkoğlu, Barış Pehlivan, Timur Soykan, Şule Aydın, and Murat Ağırel, who evaluated the agenda on the YouTube channel named Onlar TV, discussed the espionage campaign the British intelligence conducted in Turkey.

Drawing attention to 12punto columnist Müyesser Yıldız's article, Barış Terkoğlu stated, “Read Müyesser Yıldız's article on 12punto; Müyesser Yıldız explained it: The British Ambassador who came to Turkey conducted the UK's 'intelligence officer wanted' campaign in our country. The goal is to recruit intelligence officers from all over the world to work for the UK in Turkey, and Turkey has allowed this.”


The fact that the UK issued an 'intelligence officer wanted' call in Istanbul at a time when opposition presidential candidate Ekrem İmamoğlu is being accused of espionage has laid bare the contradiction regarding the investigation.