Mossad suspects admit links to Israeli agency
suspects detained for allegedly spying for Mossad in Türkiye have confessed to their connections with the Israeli intelligence agency, according to documents from the Turkish prosecution.
In raids in Istanbul and the west coast city of İzmir earlier this month, Türkiye’s counterterrorism police and National Intelligence Organization (MİT) captured seven people allegedly collecting biographical information, doing reconnaissance, photo and video documentation, live tracking and installing tracking devices through private detectives in Türkiye. Two other suspects had separately been arrested previously as part of the same investigation.
In a detailed referral letter released Friday, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office named M.K., one of the suspects in custody on charges of “military and political espionage,” as a “critical” figure in the Mossad intelligence ring.
M.K. was collecting personal information about foreign nationals while appearing as a law office employee and would share the said files with other suspects S.A.Y., G.K. and S.K. Together, the suspects would pass their findings to Mossad, the prosecution said.
Police found an irregular amount of money in his bank accounts, as well as suspicious items with other suspects on his phone records. M.K., however, denied the charges during the judicial decision, arguing it was “impossible for him to be a spy as he has never been abroad, never received money from anyone, works as a lawyer’s assistant, knows nobody and rejects all accusations.”
The prosecution in its letter also pointed to G.K. as a chief suspect, who it said had been in contact with an Israeli division called “The Israeli Intelligence Service Online Operations Center” since 2019.
Along with five others, S.A.Y., F.S.K., S.Y. and Y.A.D, including his spouse and stepson, G.K. was instructed by a Yuriy Kovalchuk on behalf of the Mossad division to research, probe and track foreign nationals and companies in Türkiye during that period under a so-called “private detective” business, the prosecution said.
The suspect obtained the said information about the targets from state databases through his connections in public institutions and shared them with M.K.
According to the indictment, in exchange for information, M.K. deposited a total of 64 payments to G.K.’s account between 2019 and 2022 and another 35 payments to G.K.’s spouse’s account. Turkish authorities found records documenting G.K.’s conversations with Mossad operatives and that he followed targets together with his spouse to give the appearance of a family. Unlike M.K., G.K. admitted to all of the charges during his testimonies, the prosecution said.
Police detected an alarming number of irregular activity in the accounts of his spouse, F.S.K., who is another suspect currently in custody. She had been aware of the money transfer activity due to her part in the surveillance, to which she only partially confessed during questioning.
Other suspects B.Y. and S.Y., also married to pose as a family, similarly admitted they had conducted surveillance, took, photographs and placed GPS tracking devices in the cars of their targets.
Suspect S.A.Y. was led by G.K. to work for Mossad and collected information about foreign nationals under orders from a Mossad figure code-named “Igor.” S.A.Y. also maintained contact with the other suspects many times, phone records showed.
The prosecution demanded the suspects be remanded in custody “because they pose a flight risk in the current stage of the investigation” but acknowledged that evidence is still lacking since the examination of digital materials seized during the raids hasn’t been completed. In turn, the court ruled that the seven suspects in total be arrested on charges of “unlawfully obtaining or spreading personal data,” “obtaining state information meant to remain secret for political or military espionage” and “unlawfully recording personal data.”
Türkiye has recently ramped up targeting alleged Mossad members inside the country.
Ankara fears Mossad is recruiting operatives on Turkish territory to target foreign nationals, with media reports saying certain Hamas members are in the country. Türkiye maintains links with the Hamas movement and rejects classifying Hamas as terrorists, unlike European countries and the United States.
In January, Turkish police detained 34 people on suspicion of spying for Israel. They were accused of planning to carry out activities that included reconnaissance and “pursuing, assaulting and kidnapping” foreign nationals living in Türkiye.
At the time, Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç said most of the suspects were charged with committing “political or military espionage” on behalf of Israeli intelligence. Mossad is said to have recruited Palestinians and Syrian nationals in Türkiye as part of an operation against foreigners living in Türkiye.
Following the Jan. 2 arrests, AA cited a prosecution document as saying the operation targeted “Palestinian nationals and their families ... within the scope of the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” The head of Israel’s domestic Shin Bet security agency said in December that his organization was prepared to target Hamas anywhere, including in Lebanon, Türkiye and Qatar.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned Israel of “serious consequences” if Israel pressed ahead with its threat to attack Hamas officials on Turkish soil.
In December 2022, MİT detained 68 suspects in an operation targeting private detectives and technical operatives working for Mossad.