Turkey’s massive witch-hunt against critics of its Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was expanded to East Asia, and Turkish nationals living in South Korea were indicted on dubious terrorism charges by a Turkish prosecutor, a judicial document revealed.
The investigation was based on spying files created at the Turkish Embassy in Seoul between 2016 and 2018.
As a part of Turkey’s global witch-hunt, Turkish diplomats systematically spied on critics of the president, collected information on Turks living abroad and transmitted it to headquarters while enjoying the privileges and immunities described in international conventions. In some countries Erdoğan’s envoys coordinated the local elements of intelligence operations carried out by Turkish intelligence agency (MİT) on foreign soil to abduct Turkish nationals.
The document obtained by Nordic Monitor indicate that Turkish diplomats gathered information on Erdoğan opponents believed to be affiliated with the Gülen/Hizmet movement, a group critical of President Erdoğan, and that Turkish educators, representatives of local associations and businessmen living in South Korea had been profiled by Turkish diplomats. The information that was reported to the foreign ministry in Ankara was later used in a criminal indictment for a charge of terrorism by Turkish prosecutor Adem Akıncı. According to a December 20, 2018 decision by Akıncı, the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched a separate investigation (file no. 2018/ 229811) into 17 Turkish nationals who were living in South Korea at the time. They were charged with “membership in a terrorist group” by Akıncı.
Source : Nordic Monitor
