National Intelligence Organization

A total of 4,167 people accused of having links to the Fetullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) in 110 countries are being investigated by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT), a public prosecutor's office said on April 19.

Six people suspected of links to the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) were brought from the Balkans to Turkey in an operation carried out by the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) on March 29, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

Turkey’s intelligence service will report to the president from Friday, the Official Gazette said.

The government issued two major new state of emergency decrees on Aug. 25, making big changes to the organizational structure of the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) by bringing it under the authority of the president and re-activating intelligence gathering activities within the military.

The daily newspaper Sozcu reported Aug. 9 that a new intelligence service has come into existence under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Sozcu’s Aug. 10 issue was dominated by the story, aptly headlined “Shocking, Documented Allegation.”

The government is carrying out intelligence activities via illegal and false organizations, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Deputy Chair Bülent Tezcan has stated, showing a court document requesting information from an organization called the "Presidential National Security Unit."

Could directives be superior to the law?

Answering this question may help resolve a deadlock when the entire debate over intelligence into coup activities focuses on a particular directive.

"July 15 has compiled several lessons for us to draw from," is the starting sentence of former National Security Organization (MİT) undersecretary Emre Taner's opinion on the intelligence gap concerning last year's coup attempt. Taner served between the years 2005 and 2010. 

The stances of Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan on the night of the coup attempt on July 15, 2016 were the hottest debate last week. Several assumptions and theories in these debates focused on the attitudes of these two.

In an indictment into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), three statements taken from the Second Chief of General Staff Yaşar Güler being regarded as a "victim" have been included. His first statement was taken on July 19, 2016 and its content was published on papers.