UPDATE - Turkish intelligence conducts world-scale works: Leader

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY ERDOGAN, REVISES HEADLINE, DECK

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, and 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.

Turkey produces technologies with its national resources, Erdogan stressed, and said a nation without intelligence is doomed to disappear.

“It is not coincidence that MIT is one of the first institutions being targeted during the historic struggle our country has been exerting for a while,” he said, highlighting the importance of intelligence services especially when the use of information turned into an effective weapon.

He added that Turkey develops a more effective national security system to eliminate threats that the country faces.

Erdogan also stressed that MIT has so far ensured repatriation of over 100 members of the 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.

A Turkish court annulled a 1934 Cabinet decree on 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.

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.

- Libya

Also addressing MIT’s operations in Libya, Erdogan said it has a “game-changing role” by providing intelligence and operational support.

He added that MIT helps to stop the advance of warlord Khalifa Haftar who prefers military to political solutions for the conflict.

Last November, Turkey and Libya signed landmark pacts on military cooperation as well as boundaries in the Mediterranean.

Under the deal, Turkey has sent advisers to help the Libyan army defeat the militias of warlord Haftar that have launched since April 2019 attacks on the Libyan capital of Tripoli and other parts of northwestern Libya, resulting in more than 1,000 deaths, including civilian women and children.

The Libyan army recently inflicted heavy blows on Haftar and liberated Tripoli and Tarhuna, in addition to other strategic locations, including Al-Watiya airbase, from his militias.

“Thanks to our impact area in foreign intelligence expanding day by day, our country started to take its place in all platforms as a regional and global power,” Erdogan said.