More on unfolding Turkish-Greek espionage affair

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Further information has been made available on an unfolding espionage affair in Turkey, centering on three Turkish citizens charged with collaborating with Greek intelligence services. The three, identified only as İ.Ş. (38 years old), N.H. (65), and A.H. (42), were arrested on Friday by Turkish police forces in the cities of İzmir and Bodrum, in what appeared to be a synchronized operation. Turkish authorities charged the three with “giving Greece information on state secrets and military installation plans, military vehicle activity and military exercises”, for which they were allegedly paid around US$ 500.00 per photograph. It is worth noting that the three arrestees do not appear to know each other, and seem to have operated individually, hand-delivering intelligence to officials of Greece’s State Intelligence Service (EYP) during one-day trips to Greek islands located off Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. Based on Turkish media sources, Greek intelligence website Strategy-Geopolitics reports that Greece withdrew a diplomatic official from its consulate in İzmir, pre-empting a pending declaration of the official as “an unwelcome person” (persona non grata in diplomatic lingo) by Turkish authorities. It appears that it was the official’s activities that led Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization’s (MİT) to the three arrestees, after a 6-month surveillance operation. [Research credit to Strategy-Geopolitics].