Turkish intelligence conducts world-scale works, says president

By Sena Guler and Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Intelligence Organization (MIT) has conducted world-scale works on various areas, Turkey’s president said on Sunday.

“Turkish Intelligence Organization conducts works on areas of cryptology, cyber, satellite, signal intelligence all around the world,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the opening ceremony of a new service building of MIT in Istanbul.

“The activity capacity of terrorist organizations in Istanbul declined considerably thanks to the close cooperation between the organization and other security institutions,” he added.

Erdogan also stressed that MIT has so far ensured repatriation of over 100 members of Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) to Turkey.

FETO and its US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 251 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Turkey accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

- Hagia Sophia

On Friday, the first prayers since its official reconversion into a mosque was held in the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque.

In the process of the reopening of Hagia Sophia for Muslim worship, Turkey has witnessed that some countries could not acknowledge that Istanbul is Turkish territory, the president said.

“Even centuries after the conquest, we see it is still not accepted that Istanbul is in the hands of the Turkish nation and Muslims,” he added.

Hagia Sophia served as a church for 916 years until the conquest of Istanbul, and a mosque from 1453 to 1934 -- nearly 500 years -- and most recently as a museum for 86 years.

One of the most visited historic buildings in Turkey by domestic and international tourists, Hagia Sophia was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985, during its time as a museum.

A Turkish court annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree July 10 that had turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, paving the way for its use again as a mosque after an 86-year hiatus.