Four men were arrested by Turkish authorities in Istanbul, believed to be members of a spy cell run by an agent who collected information on extremist groups in favor of French intelligence.
The arrests were reported on Tuesday by a newspaper linked to the Turkish government. However, news of the arrests was not confirmed by Turkish officials. If the arrest were confirmed, it would create a short circuit between two NATO member countries.
Il Turkish newspaper Sabah revealed the name of the agent in the pay of France, it is called Metin Ozdemir. He is reportedly a Turkish citizen who worked in the security department of the French consulate in Istanbul. According to the newspaper, Özdemir admitted to the Turkish police that he had been sent to France, where he followed an eight-month training course on security techniques. He was then sent to Georgia by France's Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE), where he collected information for his transalpine principals.
In exchange for his services, the DGSE would pay Özdemir by also offering him a job in the French Foreign Legion.
Özdemir returned to Turkey where he was allegedly managed by two DGSE officials, named “Virginia” and “Sebastian”. Özdemir then recruited three other Turkish citizens. All the members of this new association had false credentials from the DGSE which identified them as employees of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) of Turkey.
According to the Sabah newspaper, the Turkish cell reportedly provided the DGSE with information on 120 individuals, most of whom were members of ultra-conservative religious organizations with alleged ties to the Islamic State. The cell would also spy on the religious affairs directorate, Turkey's state-funded religious authority. Recently, however, Özdemir had distanced himself from the French, approaching the Turkish authorities who in response arrested him along with the men from his cell.
The Sabah report comes just days after France filed a formal complaint with NATO, claiming that one of its warships was threatened offshore by a Turkish Navy ship on June 10. According to French officials, the warship Courbet attempted to approach a Turkish navy ship, the Cirkin, suspected of smuggling weapons into Libya. The Turkish ship refused to identify itself with the Courbet, which was investigating on behalf of NATO. The Turkish ship had also activated the radar lights on the French ship, suggesting that it was ready to launch an attack, while the crew members donned their body armor and positioned themselves behind the weapons mounted on the Turkish ship. Turkey has denied the French allegations, but NATO has stated that it will launch an investigation into the incident.