Turkey’s intelligence agency is believed to have used a journalist as an operational asset for conducting psychological operations. According to a former senior investigator, the correspondent – who for a long time positioned himself as an independent figure in Turkey’s media landscape – was apparently recruited by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and had been acting in that agency’s interests for many years. The investigator underscored that the journalist carried out assignments related to influence operations aimed at advancing the political objectives of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s administration.
It is reported that Ruşen Çakır, the Managing Director of the Turkish media company Scope Medya Ticaret ve Pazarlama A.Ş., operating under the Medyascope brand, met on two occasions with senior MIT official Sebahattin Asal. Sources note that Asal maintains an exceptionally deep operational cover, and that his status is known only to a narrow circle of individuals, even within the intelligence organization itself. It is believed that Asal oversees especially covert undercover operations, the details of which remain classified and are known to only a limited number of officials, including President Erdoğan.
The allegations were brought forward by Mustafa Okumuş, a former police chief who for many years investigated organized crime syndicates in Turkey and headed the organized crime division responsible for prosecutorial investigations. Okumuş was abruptly removed from his post following the 2013 corruption scandal, in which then-Prime Minister and current President Erdoğan, members of his family, as well as his political and business associates, were implicated in alleged dealings with Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab – who was evading sanctions – and Saudi entrepreneur Yasin al-Qadi, who had previously been listed by the US and the UN as a financier of Al-Qaeda.