Türkiye’s Minister for the Interior, Ali Yerlikaya, that security forces arrested two and detained six Friday in an operation to bust an alleged
Israeli spy ring. Yerlikaya said that the eight suspects compiled information about
Turkish individuals and companies. The Turkish government alleged that the eight suspects then transferred the documents and information they collected to Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency. The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office put two of the suspects under formal arrest. The cases of the six others are still pending. In his announcement on X (formerly Twitter), Yerlikaya suggested that the espionage was an attempt to undermine Turkish unity, sovereignty and solidarity. This is not the first time that individuals have been arrested in
Turkey on suspicion of espionage for Israel. In January, Turkish authorities 33 suspects on similar charges. Relations between Turkey and Israel, always tense, have seen a significant in the midst of the war in Gaza. Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized Israel’s conduct during the war in
Gaza at a World’s
Human Rights Day event in late 2023. Then, in December, published by Israeli media outlets indicated that Israel’s spy chief had approved the elimination of Hamas fighters “in every location” in the world, including Qatar, Turkey and
Lebanon. In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ deadly on Israel, Erdogan further strained relations with Israel that “Hamas is not a terrorist organization.” Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for spying On April 5, 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death after a treason trial in which they were convicted of passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. Learn more about the . Lockerbie bombers turned over for trial On April 5, 1999, the government of Libya turned over to
British authorities two of its citizens who were accused of blowing up Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie,
Scotland in 1988. The subsequent trial of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi and Al Amin Khalifa Fhimah began on May 3, 2000. When the court reached its , Fhimah was found not guilty and returned to Libya, while Megrahi was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in
prison. Learn more about the from the Syracuse University Law School. Also, learn more about the into the disaster from the
United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.