Turkish intelligence set up fake news service to spy on foreign journalists, recruited AFP photographer to gain access to key events

by Abdullah Bozkurt

A case file concerning Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization’s (MIT) infiltration of Agence France-Presse (AFP) with a Turkish journalist has provided important details on how the Turkish spy agency uses journalists as operatives, establishes news outlets to collect intelligence and monitors foreign journalists and their contacts.

The statements of Mustafa Özer, a 47–year-old-photojournalist who worked for Reuters before joining AFP in 2003, gave clues on the modus operandi of the Turkish intelligence service in using journalists and media professionals as agents, assets and informants.

The practice, still ongoing today, has certainly undermined the credibility of Turkish journalists and dealt a serious blow to the integrity of news outlets, which are supposed to promote the public interest against the abuse of government power in the surveillance and illegal profiling of unsuspecting people.

Özer was caught in a counterterrorism sweep launched by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office in December 2011 that targeted the network of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by the US, EU and Turkey. The police found out he had been in contact with known suspects in the criminal case, communicating with people who were under surveillance, and wanted to bring him in for questioning about his activities.

AFP photojournalist Mustafa Özer’s statement to the prosecutor revealed how he worked secretly for the intelligence service: 

When he was detained, he revealed his secret identity as a MIT agent in order to save himself from criminal charges and revealed many details of assignments from the spy agency since he was first recruited. The 46-page statement he gave to the police and five-page statement he made to the prosecutor also implicated MIT in some acts that may very well be classified as illegal under Turkish law.

Public prosecutor Bilal Bayraktar let him go after taking his statement but pressed further in his probe to find out if any law was broken by MIT while using him as an operative under the cover of a journalist. Bayraktar’s case was quashed before he managed to go further in his investigation, and he was later dismissed by the government.

In his statement Özer underlined that he had wanted to share with the police and other authorities what he had been doing with MIT on a couple of occasions but claimed the intelligence agency prevented him from doing so. MIT agents advised him against sharing information with the police, saying the operations were carried out abroad and not subject to review by the prosecutor’s office and the police.

Yet, his damning statements exposed how Turkish intelligence established front media outlets called Bağımsız Haber Ajansı (Independent News Agency, BHA) and Euroasia News Network Photo (ENNPhoto) to conduct spying activities. According to the details in his statements, MIT spied on foreign journalists, using Özer’s position at AFP to gain access to key people and places on the pretext of conducting interviews, covering events for the press and questioning high-profile foreign nationals who visited Turkey.

Neither of the outlets is currently active after their covers were blown and the intelligence agency scrambled to get rid of its footprint by shutting down the media outlets in March 2012. ENNphoto’s archived pages that were found  on Internet Wayback give the impression of a legitimate news website although it was run by Turkish intelligence.

Invoice for Internet services of Euroasia News Network Photo, a front business run by Turkish intelligence: 

Read more on: https://nordicmonitor.com/2021/04/turkish-intelligence-set-up-fake-news-service-to-spy-on-foreign-journalists-recruited-afp-worker-to-gain-access-to-key-events/