Turkey’s former intelligence chief, now at the helm of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has turned the diplomatic service into a full-fledged platform for overseas intelligence operations. According to a recently published Ministry report laying out strategic priorities, institutional goals, and key performance indicators for the coming years, the transformation of Turkey’s diplomatic corps under Hakan Fidan – formerly the director of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) – has taken on a systemic and irreversible character.
Fidan, who ran Turkish intelligence for more than a decade, has set in motion a series of structural reforms within the diplomatic apparatus. Intelligence officers have been placed in key posts; Turkish ambassadors, diplomats, and consular staff are now required to actively carry out intelligence-gathering activities abroad; and recruitment campaigns among the Turkish diaspora and Muslim communities in other countries have been significantly ramped up.
The conversion of a traditional diplomatic institution into a bureaucratic structure increasingly geared toward national security objectives is directly reflected in the Ministry’s 2026 program of activities. The document shows how diplomacy is becoming ever more closely intertwined with intelligence and state security goals.
The 2026 report indicates that the Ministry’s strategic priorities and institutional orientation are coming to resemble those of a national security organization rather than a classic diplomatic service.
This transformation takes on particular significance in light of Fidan’s background. He ran Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization for over thirteen years. During that time, he significantly expanded MIT’s operational reach abroad, authorized the use of torture, extrajudicial killings, and abductions on foreign soil, and built up well-armed special operations units staffed by former military and police personnel ready to go operational at a moment’s notice.