Local media reported on Tuesday that a cell working with the Mossad against Iranian assets had been detained by Turkish intelligence agents.
Eleven of the team’s 15 members were reportedly held on suspicion of espionage against 23 individuals with connections to the Islamic Republic’s business community and an Iranian corporation.
After an 18-month investigation, the National Intelligence Organization of the Republic of Turkey, or MIT, purportedly discovered the cell.
According to the sources, at least one of those detained got training in Israel.
They recognized Selçuk Küçükkaya, a businessman, as the cell’s commander.
According to Turkish law enforcement and intelligence officials, 44 people were held late last year on suspicion of “spying on Palestinians” for the Mossad, and seven of them were given complete arrests.
That followed Turkey’s assertion that it had dismantled a Mossad spy operation and tried 15 people for espionage.
In order to plan and finance terrorism in Judea and Samaria, Hamas keeps an operational headquarters on Turkish land.
But this summer, a number of Iranian schemes to strike Israeli targets on Turkish soil were thwarted by Israeli and Turkish security services.
The restoration of full diplomatic relations between Jerusalem and Ankara was announced in August of last year.
Yair Lapid, the Israeli prime minister at the time, said the decision would “contribute to deepening ties between the two peoples, expanding economic, trade, and cultural ties, and strengthening regional stability.” Irit Lillian, the new Israeli ambassador to Turkey,
officially assumed her position in December after presenting her credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoan.
The credentials of Akir Zkan Torunlar, appointed as Ankara’s new ambassador to Israel in October, were recognized by President Isaac Herzog in January.
JOIN US ON WHAT'SAPP, TO GET INSTANT STATUS UPDATES AND BE IN THE KNOW.
CLICK HERE
