MESOP : APO’S CLOSE PARTNER LEAVING ? – Controversial MİT undersecretary to quit post after general election, daily says

October 26, 2015, Monday/ 17:31:10/ TODAY’S ZAMAN / ANKARA – The undersecretary of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), Hakan Fidan, will step down after the general election on Nov. 1, months after attempting to resign in order to run as a deputy for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), according to a report in the Meydan daily on Monday.

The report claims that Fidan is seeking a post on Turkey’s UN permanent mission or as a US ambassador after Sunday’s election. Meydan’s report also claims that the presidential spokesperson, İbrahim Kalın, is the primary candidate for Fidan’s position should he leave.Reports of Fidan’s impending resignation come at a time when rumors of an exodus among government bureaucrats are running high. According to the Bugün daily, the number of civil servants in the Treasury who have opted for posts abroad in the last three months abroad has reached 65. Having failed to form a single-party government in June with only 40 percent of the vote, it is believed that AK Party government officials are vying for international postings to escape the repercussions of a similar result on Nov. 1.

If Fidan attempts to resign after Nov. 1, it will not be the first time. He had initially resigned from his post in February to run for Parliament with the AK Party, but was forced to withdraw his candidacy after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke out against it. Fidan was later re-appointed to his post.

Fidan, 47, has emerged as a key architect of Turkey’s regional security strategy, particularly with regard to Syria since the start of the Syrian civil war four years ago. The University of Maryland and Bilkent University-educated spy chief joined then-Prime Minister Erdoğan’s office as a foreign policy adviser in 2007. Three years later, he was appointed head of intelligence. “He is the keeper of my secrets. He keeps the state’s secrets,” Erdoğan said of Fidan in comments made to reporters in 2012. However, reports emerged in Western media in 2013 indicating US discontent over his support for radical rebel groups in Syria and controversial links with Iranian intelligence.“U.S. officials believe the MİT under Mr. Fidan passed several pieces of intelligence to Iran, including classified U.S. assessments about the Iranian government,” The Wall Street Journal reported in October 2013.In addition, a confidential US National Security Agency (NSA) document dated April 13, 2013, published by German magazine Der Spiegel on its website in September 2014, revealed that the US had been concerned about Fidan’s Iranian connections.A four-page document which is part of a large collection of documents from the archive of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden concludes: “US intelligence reporting in recent years indicates possible connections between Iran and Dr. Hakan Fidan, the head of the MIT/SIB. The possible impact of these connections on the US SIGINT [Signal Intelligence] is unknown at this time.”

Fidan called in for questioning over KCK in 2012

In 2012 Fidan was called in for questioning in connection with an investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella organization that includes the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The PKK is recognized as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU. Fidan resisted the call, and the case prosecutor, Sadrettin Sarıkaya, was later removed from his post. The AK Party immediately passed legislation through Parliament which meant prosecutors have to receive permission from the prime minister before taking legal action against MİT officials. Individuals arrested in connection with the KCK probe were identified as MİT agents, and it was suspected that some of these agents might have crossed sides and collaborated with the KCK in terrorist attacks.

Fidan makes headlines after secret Syria meeting leaked

Fidan also made headlines in March 2014 when a leaked voice recording of him was posted online. It revealed a top-secret conversation between then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, then-Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioğlu, Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Güler and Fidan, revealing Turkey’s clandestine efforts to aid certain groups in Syria. Fidan was heard saying he had “sent around 2,000 trucks with equipment” to Syria after Güler said “the region needed arms and ammunition to be saved.”

Uludere catastrophe which killed 34 remains unsolved

Since Fidan’s appointment as undersecretary in 2010, MİT has faced harsh criticism ­on a number of occasions. One such criticism stems from the killing of 34 Turkish citizens in Uludere, also known as Roboski, on the country’s border with Iraq.

Thirty-four men and boys were traveling back to their villages in Uludere from northern Iraq when they were bombed by Turkish jets, late on Dec. 28, 2011. The group had been mistaken for PKK terrorists. In January İdris Naim Şahin, who was interior minister at the time, maintained that the intelligence which led to the killing was provided by MİT and that the intelligence agency’s action during the tragic incident was “intentional.”

The General Staff said recently that an intelligence memo given by MİT played an important role in the decision to carry out the bombing. The memo sent to the military by MİT said an attack on a military base by the PKK was “highly probable.” http://www.todayszaman.com/national_controversial-mi-t-undersecretary-to-quit-post-after-general-election-daily-says_402564.html