This is not to say those top MİT men are necessarily guilty of anything. On the contrary, Hakan Fidan, the undersecretary of MİT, as well as his predecessor Emre Taner, who have both been at the center of the current judicial crisis, are known as two figures who have put their stamp on the ongoing civilianization and efficiency efforts of this spy agency.
MİT used to have a negative reputation due to the involvement of some of its members in clandestine activities.
Serving as the head of MİT before Fidan, Taner initiated secret talks with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as part of attempts to find a solution to the Kurdish question through peaceful means. Fidan continued this process when he was one of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s deputy undersecretaries. Some contents of a series of negotiations with the PKK that took place in Oslo, Norway, were, however, leaked to the media last year. This leakage indicated the existence of powerful deep state elements at work to undermine the Turkish government’s policy of a non-violent solution to the Kurdish and PKK question.
The latest development occurred when senior MİT officials, including Fidan and Taner, were summoned to testify in a probe on the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), a group which prosecutors say controls the outlawed PKK, and this appears to be intended to discourage the government from resuming peace talks in the future.
MİT has already appealed the summons, saying the prosecutor needs the permission of the prime minister to do so. Parliament, in the meantime, will debate on Feb. 16 a government-sponsored bill that requires specially authorized prosecutors to receive special permission from the prime minister when taking legal action against or questioning MİT officials, despite strong criticism from the opposition.
Turkey has long been going through a period of transformation as it has begun settling the score with the deep state elements that played a critical role in destabilizing the country.
The Susurluk gang scandal of 1996 that unearthed mafia-state ties involved some former police officials and MİT agents.
The court verdicts delivered in the Susurluk case helped clean to a large extent the Security General Directorate of elements involved in unlawful acts, if not those in MİT.
Similarly, ongoing investigations and trials underway against retired and serving officers, including some acting commanders as well as some civilians over charges of fomenting a coup to unseat the government, have, to a certain extent, helped the purge of deep elements within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
However, despite an ongoing civilianization of MİT, it has not come under close scrutiny in regard to purging alleged deep state elements from the organization.
In addition, independent from the current judiciary row over MİT, there is a need for this spy agency, which possesses exceptional powers due to the nature of its task, to come under parliamentary oversight that it highly lacks. Neither its budget, which should be at the heart of parliamentary control, nor its intelligence activities are accountable and transparent enough.
The current judicial crisis has unfortunately taken away attention from debating MİT’s unaccountability, while raising serious question marks over the real motives behind accusations leveled against current and former top MİT officials.
