Mehmet Eymür

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Person.png Mehmet Eymür   WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(spook)
Mehmet Eymür.jpg
Born1943
Istambul
NationalityTurkish
SpouseCanset Eymür
Member ofSibel Edmonds/State Secrets Privilege Gallery

Mehmet Eymür is a Turkish spook identified as implicated by Sibel Edmonds.[1] In 1995-6 he led the counter-terrorism department of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which he joined as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit officer" (Turkish: [takip memuru] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)).[2] He was the right-hand man for the MIT deputy undersecretary Hiram Abas.[3][4]

Eymür is writing a series called Teşkilat ("Organization") about MİT and its Counter-Terrorism Department.[5]

Background

Eymür was born in Istanbul in 1943, the son of Mazhar Eymür, a leading member of the MİT's predecessor, the National Security Service (MAH). Mazhar Eymür took part in suppressing the Dersim rebellion.[6]

Eymür joined the agency after completing TED Ankara Koleji.[7] He attended the İstanbul Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences (Turkish: [İstanbul İktisadi ve Ticari İlimler Yüksek Okulu] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)).[8]

Career

MIT (1965 - 1988)

Eymür joined MIT as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit officer" (Turkish: [takip memuru] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)),[2] and was involved in the Ziverbey Villa interrogations after the 1971 Turkish coup d'état, together with Hiram Abas.[9]

Eymür gained fame for taking down numerous gangsters in the 1984 "Godfathers Operation" (Turkish: [Babalar Operasyonu] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) while heading the Smuggling Department, in concert with Atilla Aytek of the police force's smuggling department (Turkish: [Emniyet Kaçakçılık ve Harekat Dairesi Başkanı] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). The operation captured mob bosses including Dündar Kılıç.[10][11]

He prepared the 1987 MIT Report that accused high ranking civil servants in the police and politicians such as Nevzat Ayaz, Ünal Erkan and Mehmet Ağar of connections to the mafia.[12][13] The report was leaked, and published in 2000'e Doğru in January 1988. He was forced to resign on 10 June 1988.[7] The MIT said the report was prepared without proper authorization.[14] His colleague Hiram Abas, who was deputy chief of MIT and also discharged at the time, was critical of Eymür for divulging information.[15]

Eymür reportedly entered the ice producing business in Antalya with a MİT colleague called Korkut Eken, a partnership that ended acrimoniously after 5 years.[12]

MIT (1993 - 1999)

After Tansu Çiller became prime minister in mid-1993, Eymür was appointed chief of the MIT's Special Intelligence Department (Turkish: [Özel İstihbarat Dairesi] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) in May 1994.[16] Avni Özgürel of Radikal says that the department was led by Hiram Abas.[17] Next came the Operations Department (Turkish: [Operasyon Başkanlığı] error: {{lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), where he was deputy chief to Şenkal Atasagun. The two did not get along, so Eymür asked the undersecretary, Sönmez Köksal, for a different position.[18]

Counter-Terrorism Department (1995 - 1996)

On 31 January 1995, he was moved to the newly established Counter-Terrorism Department.[7] The department, created on Çiller's orders,[19] was active in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

According to Eymür, he was at this time introduced to contract killer Mahmut Yıldırım, better known as Yeşil, after Yeşil was moved to Ankara by JİTEM. Eymür said he was then unaware of Yeşil's status as a wanted criminal. Eymür said he used Yeşil in several operations, but only outside Turkey, and that he was never formally an MIT agent.[16][20] At the Counter-Terrorism Department, Eymür said he almost had the PKK's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, assassinated,[21] but failed due to irresponsible management of fiscal resources and sabotage (external, and inside the agency).[22]

When Mesut Yılmaz replaced Çiller as prime minister in March 1996, he ordered the fifty-person department dissolved.[23] Yılmaz said that the MİT strongly opposed Eymür's gang, and that such illegal activities now take place in the General Directorate of Security (police force) instead. Yılmaz said that the illegal group was loyal to Fethullah Gülen.[19] In a testimony to the Susurluk commission investigating the Susurluk scandal, Hanefi Avcı, former chief of the police force's intelligence department, said that Eymür's "gang" was illegal.[24]

Final years

Eymür prepared what has come to be known as the Second MİT Report (the first was in 1987), based on the "Askar Simitko, Lazım Esmaeili and Tarık Ümit incident" file from his Counter-Terrorism Department. This report was controversial for being prepared without authorization, and then leaked in September 1996.[25] It was published in Aydınlık on 17 September 1996.[10]

In August 1997 Eymür was assigned to Washington, D.C. as a MİT representative to U.S. intelligence agencies and security firms.[18] He was recalled on 14 August 1998.[10] Eymür returned to Turkey in 1998 to help prepare a report against Şenkal Atasagun, then the undersecretary of the MİT, who had recommended Eymür's dismissal and the dissolution of his Counter-Terrorism Department to Prime Minister Yılmaz in 1997.[24] In October 1998 Eymür was appointed to oversee Turkey's sugar refineries.[26]

Eymür finally left the MİT in 1999, and moved to McLean, Virginia; the seat of the CIA.[27] He says he would entertain offers to consult the CIA as a "terrorism" expert.[28] In March 2000 he launched a website documenting links between the Turkish state and the Turkish mafia; he faced criminal charges for divulging state secrets.[29]

Ergenekon

Since 2008 Eymür has been mentioned numerous times in the Turkish press as being the superior of Tuncay Güney - the mysterious figure who helped launch the Ergenekon investigation. Eymür vehemently denies any connection.[30]

Books

  • Ferhat Ünlü (2001), Eymür'ün aynası: eski MİT yöneticisi anlatıyor, Metis Yayınları
  • Talat Turhan, Orhan Gökdemir (1999), Mehmet Eymür: Ziverbey'den Susurluk'a bir MİT'çinin portresi, Sorun Yayınları

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References

  1. ↑ http://letsibeledmondsspeak.blogspot.com/2008/01/sibel-names-names-in-pictures.html
  2. ↑ a b {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  3. ↑ Çelik, Serdar (February–March 1994). "Turkey's Killing Machine: The Contra-Guerrilla Force". Kurdistan Report. 17. Retrieved 2008-09-20.Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto"). (note: the author—actually Selahattin Çelik—is affiliated with the PKK)
  4. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  5. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  6. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}[dead link]
  7. ↑ a b c {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  8. ↑ Eymür, Mehmet (2008-10-25). "Hukuk Mücadelem". Anadolu Türk Interneti (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-12-03.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
  9. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  10. ↑ a b c Milliyet, 1 December 2011, MİT'le özdeşleşen isim
  11. ↑ Haberturk, 30 November 2011, Mehmet Eymür'ün inişli-çıkışlı öyküsü
  12. ↑ a b {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  13. ↑ Hurriyet Daily News, 1 February 1998, The Susurluk Report Produces a Mouse
  14. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  15. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  16. ↑ a b Today's Zaman, 7 December 2011, Former MİT official Eymür puts blame on former police chief Ağar for extrajudicial killings
  17. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  18. ↑ a b {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  19. ↑ a b {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  20. ↑ Today's Zaman, 2 December 2011, MİT official says he ‘knows much’ about past atrocities
  21. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  22. ↑ Mercan, Faruk (2004-09-06). "Asala operasyonlarını Kenan Evren'in kızı yönetti". Aksiyon (in Turkish). Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. 509. Retrieved 2008-12-13.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").[dead link]
  23. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  24. ↑ a b Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named stategangs
  25. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  26. ↑ Hurriyet Daily News, 3 October 1998, Former senior MIT director to work in sugar refineries
  27. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  28. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  29. ↑ {{URL|example.com|optional display text}}
  30. ↑ Eymür, Mehmet (2008-12-02). "İstihbarat Uzmanları". Anadolu Türk Interneti (in Turkish). Retrieved 2008-12-03.CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto").
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