Turkish spy agency's image makeover
Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) is undergoing a controversial image repair and institutional reconstruction after court proceedings revealed the agency's role in murders during the 1990s.
On July 10, news broke that several high-profile political murders of the 1990s were carried out with the knowledge of the Turkish state. There is now evidence that the state was indeed in command. The Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) submitted, upon the request of the prosecutor, voice recordings and a transcript of a conversation dating back to 1995 between two of its former employees. One of them was the former head of the MIT Counterterrorism Unit.
Some 18 separate, unsolved murder cases from the 1990s were still in the courts as the MIT released the notorious 13-page transcript. The victims were mostly, but not exclusively, Kurdish businessmen, activists and intellectuals. In addition, further killing lists included singers and other famous names. A former MIT employee, Yaman Namli, testified that these lists were approved by the Special Warfare Command and the National Security Council (MGK).
