MIT publishes intelligence reports from private collection: Official documents

Among the documents published by MIT are detailed information compiled by the National Security Service (MAH) regarding foreigners working in consulates and front organizations in Adana and Mersin during the 1920s, as well as efforts to uncover the activities of these individuals.

The original Ottoman Turkish version of a 1921 document concerning Mustafa Sagir—who infiltrated the "Karakol Society" during the War of Independence, played a role in its closure, and managed to get close to the Kemalists and Mustafa Kemal Pasha, only to be eventually identified as an Indian-born British spy—is also on display on the site.

Among the documents are a 1921 "urgent" report stamped with a "double crescent" symbol regarding a female spy named Dilber Cavidan, codenamed "Rebeka"; a document sealed by the "Yavuz Group" sent in March 1921 to the General Staff (Erkan-ı Harbiye-i Umumiyye Riyaset-i Celilesi); and a letter sealed with the "double crescent" sent by the Felah Group to the General Staff in 1922.

The organization's website also features a decree dated December 25, 1926, bearing the signatures of Prime Minister İsmet İnönü and President Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, regarding the appointment of Staff Colonel Şükrü Ali Bey to the MAH and stating that the Prime Minister is responsible for the execution of the decree's provisions.

A document dated December 27, 1926, stating that Şükrü Ali Bey, who was serving in the General Staff, had been appointed to the Presidency of the MAH Organization—which was established by a confidential decree of the Council of Ministers on December 19, 1926—and that this notification was made by the Prime Ministry to the relevant institutions and to Şükrü Ali Bey, is also among the reports on the site.

INTELLIGENCE DOCUMENT ON MAXIM GORKY'S FILM

The February activity report sent from the Ankara Central Regional Directorate to the Presidency of the National Security Service on March 1, 1927, with a "zata mahsustur" (personal/confidential) classification, is published on MIT's website.

Also drawing attention on the MIT page is an intelligence document from a report dated March 31, 1928, sent by the Istanbul Regional Directorate to the High Presidency of the National Security Service, which mentions that the famous novel "Mother" by Soviet writer Maxim Gorky had been released as a film in Istanbul and expresses concerns that the work could serve as powerful communist propaganda.

Among the documents, which include an intelligence chart created under the name "Kurdish-Turkish Committee for the Restoration of the Caliphate" regarding activities aimed at the return of the caliphate—a subject that occupied part of the MAH's defense efforts during its founding years—is a letter dated July 4, 1932, from the Izmir Central Directorate regarding the deciphering of a military report written by the newly arrived French Consul in Izmir, which had been retrieved from a stove and pieced together.

In addition to the original French version of the document after it was reassembled, the Turkish text report is also among the documents published on the organization's website.

REJECTION OF REQUEST TO TRACK HALİDE EDİP ADIVAR

Also included among these documents is a marginal note regarding a request for information from the General Directorate of Security under the Ministry of Interior about Halide Edip Adıvar, who came to Turkey for a short time in 1935, and the response from MAH Deputy President Naci Perkel: "We are tracking spies. Rauf and Halide can at most be against the regime. We haven't gone after them."

Among the published documents, reports dated June 16, 1938, regarding the MAH's contribution to efforts for the annexation of Hatay to the motherland by obtaining intelligence that the French priority was Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco, and that they would withdraw from İskenderun if necessary, also stand out.

GERMAN PROPAGANDA MINISTER GOEBBELS WAS ALSO TRACKED

On the other hand, a report dated April 1939, kept by an MAH member posing as a journalist who approached German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, who came to Turkey shortly before World War II, also stands out on the site.

The report in question contains the following statements:

"Due to the arrival of German Propaganda Minister Goebbels in Istanbul, a task was assigned to our officer Turan. This report, provided by this friend who presented himself as a journalist, is submitted for your information. The information regarding the KIP in maritime routes reinforces the situation previously identified by the Center. I submit this for your consideration."

The final report published in the "documents" section under the "private collection" tab on MIT's official website is an instruction sent to the Ankara Regional Directorate in 1948, signed by MAH President Naci Perkel, regarding a suspicious individual.

News Source: 12punto