Turkish FM: Intel chief doing his duty by revealing Mossad spies in Iran

Ahmet Davutoglu seemingly confirms some allegations regarding Hakan Fidan.

By ARIEL BEN SOLOMON
Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu 370 (photo credit: REUTERS)
Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu 370
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Turkey’s foreign minister has seemingly confirmed some of the allegations regarding his country’s intelligence chief.
Recent reports in the US media criticized Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan for supporting Islamists in Syria and exposing Mossad spies active in Iran.
“When you read these articles, 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,” Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in an interview on Friday night, as reported by the Turkish daily newspaper, Hurriyet.
An article in The Washington Post on Thursday quoted knowledgeable sources as saying that Ankara exposed the Mossad’s operations in Iran by blowing the cover of up to 10 Iranians who had been meeting with Israeli agents in Turkey.
Fidan allegedly gave Iran the identities of the spies.The Wall Street Journal reported that Fidan was orchestrating the arming of Islamists in the Syrian opposition, particularly Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups. Senior US officials said Fidan gave Iran sensitive intelligence three years ago collected by the US and Israel.
Davutoglu said the accusations regarding Fidan were contradictory in that he was accused of supporting both Iran and its enemies in Syria.
“Turkey is not a country where other intelligence units can comfortably perform operations. This is a requirement of independence,” he said. “I am not saying that the claims are true, but after all, every intelligence agency works for the interest of its own country.”
Hurriyet reported on Saturday that Ankara sees Israel behind the campaign against its intelligence chief.
“We see this media campaign as an attack and there might be an Israeli effort behind it,” a Turkish intelligence source said.
Separately, Turkey’s birthrate continues to fall and is projected to be around 2.02 births per woman by 2019, according to the Turkish paper.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been pushing Turks to have more babies.