Mass spying by MIT in Germany
The Turkish president continues to expand his power. In the future, the secret service will be under the direct control of the Prasidial Office. In Germany, MIT (Milli Istihbarat Teskilati) relies on its moles in German institutions – primarily in the German police force. Also among the Turkish asylum seekers are senior police officials and dismissed employees of the MIT.
Erdogan’s fear of being pushed from the sultan’s throne must be enormous. More and more institutions are directly under Erdogan’s control, more and more civil servants are dismissed and replaced by loyal vassals. There are reports from media close to the government that the state religious authority Diyanet and the press relations are to be handed over directly to the President of the Republic.
The military, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior, the police, the patent office and other institutions are affected by the latest 900 seizures by decree 928. In order to prevent them from leaving the country, the passports of those released were declared invalid.
The wave of purges at the universities also continued. 120 more academics lost their jobs in the last few days. So far, according to the Tagesschau, 150.000 people dismissed, 50.000 people in prison, including 150 journalists. 130 press institutions were closed, most recently three Kurdish media organizations.
Under Erdogan’s control, the power of the Turkish secret service is being expanded
Until now, the intelligence service was under the control of the prime minister. Now Erdogan faces the newly formed "Control Council for the National Intelligence Service" (MIKK) before. This means that he personally can give instructions to MIT, but vice versa prosecutorial investigations against the machinations of MIT are only possible with Erdogan’s permission. At the same time, the intelligence service’s powers have been expanded: MIT is now allowed to investigate employees of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces.
As early as 2014, the intelligence service was given wide-ranging powers abroad or even to deal with organizations deemed terrorist in nature. Journalists who reported on MIT operations have since been threatened with heavy prison sentences. An example of this is the deputy of the Kemalist CHP party, Enis Berberoglu, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in June 2017. He was accused of having given the newspaper "Cumhuriyet" Giving evidence of MIT arms supplies to Syrian Islamists.
The mass detentions in Turkish institutions, which now affect the intelligence service as well as the military, have also had an impact on the quality of the authorities’ work. In the education sector, posts have been filled predominantly by second-rate, poorly trained, inexperienced staff. The theory of evolution has been removed from textbooks, with jihad (holy war) entering the classroom instead.
In the military, key positions have been filled by officers loyal to the AKP who lack training and experience. The intelligence service has also lost well-trained people and must operate with second-class agents. The latest example is the failure of MIT’s kidnapping plans against high-ranking PKK cadres in Iraq.