On Sept. 23, RedHack, a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist computer hacking group, announced that they hacked into Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s son-in-law’s email accounts. Berat Albayrak is not only Erdogan’s eldest son-in-law, but he is also Turkey's energy and natural resources minister. RedHack demanded that Asli Erdogan, an author and human rights activist, and other imprisoned left-wing activists be released by Sept. 25 or they would release the emails to the public.

Introducing themselves as one of the world’s oldest “hacktivist groups,” established in 1997, RedHack is older than its global counterpart, Anonymous. Their activities are considered criminal according to Turkish law. Yet they have some public support. In a documentary, they explain some of their hacking activities as standing by the “oppressed against the oppressor.” Scholars in this documentary pose the question, “If RedHack is criminal, why does a generation consider the group as a hero?” It seems their operations are diverse enough to convince the public they are not after personal gain, but are rather taking risks to protect public interest. For example, in April 2012 when then-Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin ridiculed a citizen to do cartwheels to show his appreciation, RedHack replied by taking over the ministry’s website telling Sahin it was his turn to do cartwheels for the public. They have openly challenged the Gulen movement multiple times and hacked into their webpages. RedHack carried out bold acts as well: In 2005, they hacked the police’s webpage and erased all unprocessed traffic tickets, and in 2013, they erased the debts people owed to governmental entities.

They also seem to have a sense of humor, as they have chosen nicknames after the Smurfs, such as Papa Smurf, Hard-Working Smurf and Honest Smurf. The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has intensified its battle with the group, making arrests with terrorism charges. Since 2012 and through dozens of court cases, the government has failed to establish any sort of link between RedHack and the individuals arrested as RedHackers. RedHack has suffered attacks itself from allegedly government-sponsored hackers, such as Akincilar Group. Akincilar aimed to provide evidence that RedHack is a terror organization and has connections with armed terror organizations.

Going back to the current case of RedHack allegedly hacking into Albayrak’s email accounts, Albayrak and other government officials have been silent. They have not released any prisoners either. Once the deadline passed, RedHackers kept their promise and released photos of emails and voice recordings found in the emails to the public using social media.