Erdoğan met former intel chief Fidan in Medina, report claims.

Erdoğan met former intel chief Fidan in Medina, report claims. (HD).

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reportedly met with Hakan Fidan, the former head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in Medina, Saudi Arabia, on March 2.

Erdoğan reportedly expressed his disappointment over Fidan’s resignation during the tete-a-tete meeting, daily Habertürk reported on March 6, adding that Fidan explained the reasons for his resignation and the problems he has faced since he left his post.

The meeting took place two days before Erdoğan’s latest comments on Fidan’s resignation, when he repeated his disappointment over the former MİT chief’s decision.

 “We are governing a state. I have already expressed my opinion about that issue. There is of course a disappointment if a candidacy is in question even though we have expressed our opinions,” Erdoğan told reporters en route to Saudi Arabia on March 4. Read the full story here.

Erdoğan’s authority challenged: “I will carry on this struggle even if I have to walk alone”

Erdoğan’s authority challenged: “I will carry on this struggle even if I have to walk alone”(HD).

It must be very difficult for a leader who likes to exercise authority like Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan to admit publicly that he failed to convince Hakan Fidan, the powerful head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), to stay in office.

“Unfortunately,” Erdoğan told reporters accompanying him on his trip to Latin America, “he said he could not continue any longer.”

According to the constitution, the MİT is still under the prime minister, which is one of the reasons why Erdoğan wants it to be formally tied to the presidency in the strong presidential system that he dreams of.

On board the presidential plane, he said something bitter about both Davutoğlu and Fidan, without directly giving their names. “Perhaps he [Fidan] is planning to become a candidate [for parliament] or beyond [like a minister]. Or perhaps he was given certain promises, I can’t know that. But I told him [Fidan] that I did not find his departure from the MİT to be appropriate,” Erdoğan said.

The real source of Erdoğan’s anger must be something else. It could be, for example, a challenge he is facing from his closest circle, from the two men he has been relying on so far. His remark to reporters, “I will carry on this struggle even if I have to walk alone,” says a lot about his psychology.

It is possible that Erdoğan and Davutoğlu will find a way to find common ground, as the June 7 elections are too valuable to risk. But this wound is the kind that can leave a scar on the face, and it is likely to have political consequences - especially within the governing party. Hmmm....They have decided that he has to go, he's damaging the public image of Turkey too much, businesses are loosing investors and money, money talks. Read the full story here.

Total householddebts were 6 billion Turkish lira ($2.4 billion)when AKP came to power 2002. In 2014 it's 345.5 BL Turkish lira $139billion
— MFS - The Other News (@MFS001) February 10, 2015

Turkey's Intell Chief Hakan Fidan: "ISIS is an popular establishment, I urge my western colleagues to revise their mindset"

Turkey's Intelligence Chief Hakan Fidan: "ISIS is an popular establishment, I urge my western colleagues to revise their mindset" (Awd).

Ankara- Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, known by the MİT acronym, has drawn a lot of attention and criticism lately for his controversial comments about ISIS.

“ISIS is a reality and we have to accept that we cannot eradicate a well-organized and popular establishment such as the Islamic State; therefore I urge my western colleagues to revise their mindset about Islamic political currents and not be cynical at all,” said Mr. Hakan Fidan during a press conference in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Fidan added that in order to deal with the vast number of foreign Jihadists craving to travel to Syria, it is imperative that ISIS must set up a consulate or at least a political office in Istanbul.

He further underlined that it is Turkey’s firm belief to provide medical care for all injured people who fled Syria regardless of their political or religious affiliation.

Recently as the fierce clashes between Kurdish forces and ISIS terrorists continue in the besieged city of Kobani, countless number of ISIS injured fighters enter the Turkish territory and are being admitted in the military hospital in Hatay Province.

Over the last few days, the Kurdish fearless guerillas could fend off ISIS forces who wanted to capture Kobani, the Syrian Kurdish strategic city which is situated only few kilometers away from Turkish border.

Hemin Hawrami, a Kobani-based senior Kurdish official said that Turkey's Erdoğan and his oil-rich Arab allies have dual agendas in the war on terror and as a matter of fact they are supplying the Islamist militants with weapons and money.

Hawrami who was speaking via Skype highlighted the danger of Turkish-backed terrorist groups and added that what is happening in Syria cannot be categorized as a genuine and popular revolution against dictatorship but rather it is a chaos orchestrated by Erdoğan who is dreaming to revive the infamous Ottoman Empire. Hmmmm....NATO 'Ally' ...what, where ??

Obama's BFF Erdogan Won't Let Hamas Reconcile with Egypt.

Obama's BFF Erdogan Won't Let Hamas Reconcile with Egypt.(INN).

Turkey is preventing Hamas from strengthening its ties with Egypt’s new regime, an Egyptian newspaper has reported.

According to the Al-Ahram daily, which cited senior officials in the Palestinian Authority, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan prevented Hamas’s Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh from launching an initiative aimed at reconciling with Egypt and improving Hamas’s relations with it.

According to the report, Erdogan advised the leaders of Hamas not to make any concessions to Egypt at this stage, given the fact that the region is still unstable, and that it is possible to change the current regime in Egypt using the pressure exerted by Turkey, Qatar and the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood.

It was also reported that the Turkish prime minister pressured Haniyeh not to recognize the “military coup” and reject the Egyptian demand to extradite any Gazans suspected of involvement in the terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula.

According to Al-Ahram, Haniyeh ​​contacted Erdogan before giving his speech in honor of the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday on October 19. Erdogan had Haniyeh change the wording of his speech in accordance with his demands, the newspaper claimed.

Hamas enjoyed close relations with Egypt’s former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi but has had tense relations with the military-backed regime that replaced him in July.

As part of its war on the ongoing terrorism in the Sinai, Egypt’s army has also been applying pressure on Hamas, which is blamed by Egypt for being involved in teaching Islamists in Egypt how to carry out attacks.

Egypt recently said it found evidence that links Hamas to the ongoing Sinai terrorism. Hamas has denied the allegations.

Erdogan has publicly expressed his disapproval of the military’s ouster of Morsi and has chastised the West for failing to brand the ouster a coup.

He even went as far as to accuse Israel of being behind Morsi’s ouster. Egypt, outraged by the comments, warned Turkey that it was losing its patience over Erdogan’s remarks, saying the comments aimed to divide Egyptians.

Report: U.S. Cancelled Drone Delivery to Israeli info 'leaking' Turkey.

Report: U.S. Cancelled Drone Delivery to Israeli info 'leaking' Turkey.(INN).

The United States Congress cancelled the delivery to Turkey of 10 Predators - unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) - following Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan's disclosure of the identity of 10 Iranians who had been working for the Mossad, the Turkish Taraf daily reported on Monday.

According to the newspaper, the claims about Fidan can be traced back to the year after the Mavi Marmara incident in 2010.

Reacting to Turkey's move, the U.S. cancelled the delivery to Turkey of the 10 UAVs that Turkey has been expecting since June of last year. Congress decided to cancel the delivery because of the close relations between Turkey’s intelligence services and Iran’s intelligence service, reported Taraf.

Turkish government sources claimed, according to the Today’s Zaman newspaper, that the timing of the release of the news about Fidan in the American press is related to the fact that Turkey has chosen a Chinese defense firm sanctioned by Washington to co-produce a $4 billion long-range air and missile defense system, rejecting rival bids from Russian, U.S. and European firms.

The Washington Post reported last week that Turkey handed over to Tehran a list of Israeli agents in Iran. Sources told the paper that Turkey’s deliberate exposure of the agents’ identities was a “significant” blow to Israel’s intelligence in Iran.

An earlier report, this time in the Wall Street Journal, said that Fidan was acting “independently” on Syria operations, jeopardizing Western interests there.

Taraf's report stated that the Iranian agents were uncovered within the scope of another operation, but Israel and the U.S. put the blame on Fidan for the disclosure of the identities of the Iranian agents.

Turkey has blamed Israel for leaking the story about the exposure of the spies. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu originally denied that his country’s intelligence chief exposed Israeli spies, but later seemed to confirm the Washington Post report.

“When you read these articles, Hakan Fidan is accused of establishing an independent intelligence structure and not letting other intelligence agencies operate in Turkey. Therefore, he is being blamed for doing his job,” Davutoglu said.

MK Avigdor Lieberman wrote Saturday that he is not surprised by Turkey's accusations that Israel leaked the Washington Post story.

He reminded his followers that he had been opposed to issuing an apology to Turkey over the Mavi Marmara incident.

"My opposition to an apology to Turkey is not new and I expressed it clearly, before and after the fact,” he added. “I thought and explained that it will not lead to an improvement in relations between the countries, but only hurt Israel's status in the area, and play into the hands of the extremist elements in the Middle East, including Turkey, under extremist Islamist [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan.

Turkey under Erdogan is not interested in improving relations with Israel, stated Lieberman. “That is why I hope we all stop deluding ourselves and understand the reality we live in and the difference between what is desired and what actually exists.”Hmmm.....Obama's BFF Erdogan....'A man is known by the company he keeps'.

Turkey's 'secret-keeper': spy chief Hakan Fidan, the 'Iranian Connection'?

Turkey's 'secret-keeper': spy chief Hakan Fidan, the 'Iranian Connection'?(F24).

The head of Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan, is the driving force behind the state's clandestine peace talks with a jailed Kurdish rebel chief that aim to end a bloody three-decade insurgency.

Low-profile Fidan, 45, was appointed to the top spy seat by close ally Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in May 2010.

Fidan took part in peace talks with senior figures from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Oslo in 2009, which unravelled in 2011 when secret recordings were leaked to the media revealing the talks.

After the failed negotiations, Erdogan's government delegated Fidan to hold talks with PKK chief Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving a life sentence in the isolated prison island of Imrali.

When state prosecutors last year asked the senior intelligence official to shed light on whose authority the agency held the Oslo talks, Erdogan publicly voiced support for his ally.

"It was me who sent him to Oslo and to Imrali," the premier said.

"He is my secret-keeper, he is the state's secret-keeper," Erdogan said, describing Fidan as a "very well-trained bureaucrat." Details about the spy's life are largely confidential because of his role at the top of Turkey's National Intelligence Organisation (MIT).

According to a brief resume on the MIT's official website, Fidan served in the Turkish Armed Forces as a non-commissioned officer. He also worked at NATO's Germany-based Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.

The married father-of-three has a bachelor's degree in political science and government from the University of Maryland University College in the United States. He also earned a master's and a doctoral degree at Ankara's private Bilkent University. Local media say he fostered ties with an influential Islamic movement headed by Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the United States, during his four-year tenure at TIKA.

The Gulen movement, which has dozens of schools abroad, is considered close to Erdogan's Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP), in power since 2002.

Before he was appointed the new head of MIT, Fidan worked in Erdogan's office as a deputy undersecretary. He is also known to have worked closely with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

Following Fidan's MIT appointment in 2010, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the Israeli defence establishment, particularly Mossad, viewed his promotion with concern, accusing him of steering Turkey away from the Jewish state and closer to Iran.

The paper cited unnamed Israeli sources as speculating that Fidan, along with Erdogan and Davutoglu, orchestrated a change in Turkish-Israeli ties.

In an opinion piece last year, the daily Haber-Turk editor in chief Fatih Altayli claimed that Erdogan was grooming Fidan for the post of prime minister.

"He (Erdogan) brings Fidan along in many important talks with foreign heads of state. It feels like he is considering Hakan Fidan for an important mission in the future," Altayli said.Read the full story here.