Different points of view on whether Turkey is playing a double game with Israel by outing their spies to Iran......
http://freebeacon.com/psaki-no-comment-on-reports-turkey-may-be-disclosing-israeli-intel-assets-to-iran/
He describes “Israeli anger at the deliberate compromise of its agents,” which he said may help explain why Netanyahu “became entrenched in his refusal to apologize to Erdogan about the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident" in which nine Turks were killed. He did apologize later but the “severe strain with Erdogan continues.”
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources underline five lessons from the WP article and its timing:
The same message applies equally to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which actively challenge Barack Obama’s approach to the region.
He accused Fidan of working against US policy by helping to supply arms and ammunition to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadis fighting with Syrian rebels. Jeffrey describes Fidan as one of three spy chiefs acting to shape the “new Middle East.” The other two are Prince Bandar bin Sultan, director of Saudi General Intelligence, and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the notorious Iranian Al Qods Brigades intelligence and terror network.
Turkish government officials were quick to deny claims reported by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius that Ankara blew the cover on a group of Israeli spies, disclosing their names to Iranian intelligence.
“Various campaigns both at international and national level are recently underway,” Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said from his hometown of Konya on Oct. 17, blaming those campaigns for trying to discredit the government’s “mission” and Ankara’s goal to raise Turkey’s global profile.
Ignatius had claimed in his Washington Post column that during a bitter period in bilateral relations, Turkey gave up the identities of around 10 Israelis to Tehran, who had been working with Israeli intelligence, in “an effort to slap the Israelis,” according to sources that Ignatius described as “knowledgeable.”
Also referring to another article published in the Wall Street Journal last week about the preponderance of Turkish Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan in Ankara’s Syria stance, Davutoğlu argued that the timing of both publications was “important.” Ignatius' article also mentions Fidan, claiming that he was considered by Israeli authorities to be suspect due to his close ties to Tehran.
“The claims on Hakan Fidan are not only unfounded but also an example of a very poor black propaganda,” Davutoğlu said.
Mustafa Varank, one of the prime minister’s advisers, also responded to Ignatius’ article, describing the report as “incoherent” via Twitter. Varank argued that Ignatius’ story clashed with the reality of intelligence agencies.
“Ignatius’ article is so incoherent. The intelligence world operates according to agreements,” he tweeted.
“The fall was going to get heated, wasn’t it?” he said in reference to predictions that the Gezi protests would restart after the summer. “Their predictions have not panned out, and for that reason, they have started a campaign against the reputation of the [Turkish] government and intelligence.”
Varank also said it was inevitable that some powers would launch psychological warfare against the government and its intelligence service with the upcoming elections.
‘Israel ran Iran spy network from Turkey’
Ignatius said in his column that Israeli intelligence had run part of its Iranian spy network through Turkey, due to the fact that “it had a relatively easy movement back and forth across its border with Iran.”
Ignatius further claimed that the spy ring conflict may have been the reason behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to apologize following the Gaza flotilla incident, in which nine Turks were killed by Israeli forces.
Netanyahu maintained harsh rhetoric for months after the incident before finally apologizing to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a phone call in March.
The apology, however, failed to truly improve ties, Ignatius said.
The report contains further accusations against Fidan, some of which cite previous Washington Post stories, claiming the MİT chief passed Israeli and U.S. intelligence to Iranian recipients.
http://freebeacon.com/psaki-no-comment-on-reports-turkey-may-be-disclosing-israeli-intel-assets-to-iran/
Psaki: No Comment on Reports Turkey May Be Disclosing Israeli Intel Assets to Iran
BY:
State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki refused to address reports that Turkey has disclosed the identities Israeli intelligence assets to Iran Thursday in the State Department press conference.
The Washington Post’s David Ignatius suggested that relations between Israel and Turkey are still strained because of the 2010 flotilla incident, despite September reports indicating Turkey and Israel were close to a “breakthrough” in reconciliation.
However, when asked whether the State Department was concerned that the Turks could be hindering efforts by the United States and Israel to gather intelligence on Iran, Psaki responded, “I’m not going to speak to this”:
MATT LEE: Just going back to the Ignatius piece, and recognizing you don’t want to comment on it, I presume, specifically, but are you concerned at all that intelligence information about Iran has been compromised at all in recent years by the disclosure of Israeli assets — intelligence assets?
JEN PSAKI: I’m just not going to comment on the specific stories.
LEE: So do you not — this is — this is not an issue with the Turks? Do you still have — let me put it this way: Do you have concerns about the Turks or the Turkish government when it comes to getting intelligence about Iran?
PSAKI: Do we have concerns about them? In what way?
LEE: Are you concerned that the Turks may be hindering either you or your greatest Middle East ally, the Israelis, in getting intelligence about Iran and what’s going on inside of it?
PSAKI: I’m not going to speak to this. We work with the Turks. They’re a close ally. We work with them on a range of issues.
LEE: Well, here’s my question: Do you still consider the Turks to be a close ally –
PSAKI: Yes.
LEE: — a NATO ally –
MS. PSAKI: Yes.
LEE: — that would — that is acting in the best interests of the alliance, particularly when it comes to Iran?
PSAKI: Our position has not changed on our relationship with Turkey.
http://www.debka.com/article/23362/How-Turkey-shopped-Mossad-spies-to-Iran-A-story-leaked-by-Washington-to-caution-Netanyahu
Early last year, the Erdogan government blew the cover of up to 10 Israel agents in Iran who had been meeting inside Turkey with their Mossad case officers. This story was published in The Washington Post, by David Ignatius, who has excellent connections in the US capital, Thursday, Oct. 17 – the day after a two-day conference in Geneva between six world powers with Iran on its nuclear program. A chorus of Western powers led by the US hailed the event as “substantive” and “forward-looking.”
But on the quiet, the WP story was directed against Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a caution to him to drop his “lone voice” posture against trusting Iran to abandon its nuclear weapon aspirations. Instead, he must look forward and start getting used to the “new Middle East" and role Barack Obama has assigned for Iran. If he persists in his defiant attitude, Israeli intelligence may face more debacles like the Turkish betrayal.
The WP story reveals from “knowledgeable sources” that Israeli intelligence had apparently run part of its Iranian spy network through Turkey, which has relatively easy movement back and forth across its border with Iran. “The Turkish intelligence service MIT had the resources to monitor those meetings, but after 50 years of cooperation with Turkey, Israel never imagined the Turks would “shop” Israeli agents to a hostile power.
Ignatius reports: “US officials assessed the incident as a problem of misplaced trust, rather than bad tradecraft.”
Still, the article presents Israel’s Mossad in an unflattering light, claiming that Israeli intelligence officers in 2010 complained to the CIA that Hakan Fidan Turkish intelligence chief was in fact “the MOIS station chief in Ankara.” MOIS is Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
He describes “Israeli anger at the deliberate compromise of its agents,” which he said may help explain why Netanyahu “became entrenched in his refusal to apologize to Erdogan about the May 2010 Gaza flotilla incident" in which nine Turks were killed. He did apologize later but the “severe strain with Erdogan continues.”
DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources underline five lessons from the WP article and its timing:
1. The US never protested to Ankara about over its deliberate compromise of the Israeli network because President Barack Obama was intent on cultivating Prime Minister Erdogan as a key Muslim ally.
2. Washington wasn’t sure of Turkey’s motives. According to one theory, Erdogan was settling a score with Israel for its commando raid on the Turkish Mavis Marmama which was leading the flotilla to Gaza with pro-Palestinian activists.
3. Netanyahu’s apology, forced on him by Obama, did not ease strained relations with Ankara.
4. Although US officials treated the exposure of the Israeli network as an unfortunate intelligence loss, they continue to work with Hakan Fidan on sensitive issues despite his suspected collaboration with Tehran.
“This practice of separating intelligence issues from broader policymaking is said to be a long-standing US approach,” the writer reported.
“This practice of separating intelligence issues from broader policymaking is said to be a long-standing US approach,” the writer reported.
5. “Kaleidoscopic changes” lie ahead of the Middle East, says Ignatius, and countries like Israel, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are searching – openly as well as covertly - for alliances in the constantly changing Middle East.
The sixth lesson appears between the lines of the article. It is that if Netanyahu wants to escape more punishment over his bad relations with Erdogan and attitude on Iran, he must change his approach and acclimatize to the new Middle East, however cruel and cold, in which the US and Iran are beginning to cooperate.
The same message applies equally to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, both of which actively challenge Barack Obama’s approach to the region.
As usual in the covert world of intelligence and espionage, the WP story has another dimension. It is also the answer to a Wall Street Journal piece of Oct. 10 entitled “Turkey’s Spymaster Plots Own Course on Syria,” which quotes former US Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey as saying, “Hakan Fidan is the face of the new Middle East.”
He accused Fidan of working against US policy by helping to supply arms and ammunition to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadis fighting with Syrian rebels. Jeffrey describes Fidan as one of three spy chiefs acting to shape the “new Middle East.” The other two are Prince Bandar bin Sultan, director of Saudi General Intelligence, and Gen. Qassem Soleimani, head of the notorious Iranian Al Qods Brigades intelligence and terror network.
Mossad chief Tomer Pardo did not make the list.
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-denies-claims-on-disclosure-of-israeli-spies-intelligence-chief.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56360&NewsCatID=338
Turkey denies claims on disclosure of Israeli spies, intelligence chief
Ignatius said that Hakan Fidan(above), the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT), was considered by Israeli authorities to be suspect due to his close ties to Tehran. Hürriyet Photo
“Various campaigns both at international and national level are recently underway,” Foreign Minister Davutoğlu said from his hometown of Konya on Oct. 17, blaming those campaigns for trying to discredit the government’s “mission” and Ankara’s goal to raise Turkey’s global profile.
Ignatius had claimed in his Washington Post column that during a bitter period in bilateral relations, Turkey gave up the identities of around 10 Israelis to Tehran, who had been working with Israeli intelligence, in “an effort to slap the Israelis,” according to sources that Ignatius described as “knowledgeable.”
Also referring to another article published in the Wall Street Journal last week about the preponderance of Turkish Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan in Ankara’s Syria stance, Davutoğlu argued that the timing of both publications was “important.” Ignatius' article also mentions Fidan, claiming that he was considered by Israeli authorities to be suspect due to his close ties to Tehran.
“The claims on Hakan Fidan are not only unfounded but also an example of a very poor black propaganda,” Davutoğlu said.
Mustafa Varank, one of the prime minister’s advisers, also responded to Ignatius’ article, describing the report as “incoherent” via Twitter. Varank argued that Ignatius’ story clashed with the reality of intelligence agencies.
“Ignatius’ article is so incoherent. The intelligence world operates according to agreements,” he tweeted.
“The fall was going to get heated, wasn’t it?” he said in reference to predictions that the Gezi protests would restart after the summer. “Their predictions have not panned out, and for that reason, they have started a campaign against the reputation of the [Turkish] government and intelligence.”
Varank also said it was inevitable that some powers would launch psychological warfare against the government and its intelligence service with the upcoming elections.
‘Israel ran Iran spy network from Turkey’
Ignatius said in his column that Israeli intelligence had run part of its Iranian spy network through Turkey, due to the fact that “it had a relatively easy movement back and forth across its border with Iran.”
Ignatius further claimed that the spy ring conflict may have been the reason behind Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to apologize following the Gaza flotilla incident, in which nine Turks were killed by Israeli forces.
Netanyahu maintained harsh rhetoric for months after the incident before finally apologizing to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in a phone call in March.
The apology, however, failed to truly improve ties, Ignatius said.
The report contains further accusations against Fidan, some of which cite previous Washington Post stories, claiming the MİT chief passed Israeli and U.S. intelligence to Iranian recipients.
October/17/2013
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