Ragip Soylu
Middle East Eye / September 3, 2024
Kosovar citizen admits making money transfers to operatives working for Israel in Turkey, sources say
Turkish security forces have detained a citizen of Kosovo accused of managing an Israeli intelligence money network in Turkey, a security source said on Tuesday.
The source said Liridon Rexhepi had been transferring money to Israel’s field personnel in Turkey, who had been spying on Palestinian politicians, including recording via drones.
They said the operatives had also been compiling information about the situation in Syria.
“Rexhepi had made numerous money transfers to field personnel in Turkey via Western Union,” the source said.
“His activities had been monitored as he entered Turkey on 25 August by the Turkish intelligence agency.”
The source said Rexhepi was arrested on 30 August by the Istanbul police department and he admitted during his police questioning to making money transfers. An Istanbul court has sent him to prison, the source added.
Turkish security sources believe Israeli intelligence service Mossad had been using Eastern European countries, especially Kosovo, to fund its informants and operatives on the ground in Turkey.
“As a result of the money tracking, it was determined that the operatives in Turkey transferred the money coming from Kosovo to their subordinates in Syria via Western Union,” the source added.
“It was also determined that operatives in Turkey were paying for their resources in Syria using crypto money.”
Turkish security forces have routinely made arrests of alleged Israeli informants and operative networks in the country in recent years.
As bilateral relationships between the two countries deteriorated over Israel’s invasion of Gaza, Ankara has stepped up its efforts to track more Israeli intelligence activities.
Ragip Soylu is MEE’s Turkey Bureau Chief, based in Ankara
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Turkey’s counter-terrorism unit arrests chief Mossad financier in Istanbul
Lizzie Porter
The National / September 3, 2024
Arrest of alleged spy agency backer comes amid major downturn in relations.
The chief financier of Israel’s external spy agency Mossad in Turkey was arrested in Istanbul, Turkish police said, in a move likely to further strain relations between the two countries.
Istanbul police’s counter-terrorism unit arrested Liridon Rexhepi after following work by Turkish intelligence service MIT, state media reported on Tuesday, without providing details of the suspect, his alleged relations with Mossad and Israel or how, or at what scale, he had been allegedly financing the agency.
Relations between Turkey and Israel have soured dramatically since the October 7 attacks by Hamas on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people and triggered the war in Gaza. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish leaders have voiced support for Hamas and criticized Israeli conduct in its military operations, which have killed more than 40,700 people in the Palestinian enclave since the war began. Turkey banned trade with Israel in May over the war and Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have traded acerbic barbs over social media.
Israeli officials have criticized the Turkish government for hosting Hamas members in the country and said that the trade ban harms both Israeli and Turkish firms. Before the war, the two countries shared trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars a month and had been rebuilding bilateral relations bruised by previous rifts. Despite the current fallout, Israel and Turkey have not cut off their diplomatic ties.
The Turkish government has come under significant public pressure over its ties with Israel. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Istanbul on Sunday to demand a boycott of companies they accuse of supporting Israel. The arrest of an alleged high-profile Mossad agent may ease some of those fears, but may also provoke public anger about how a financing network could operate in the country.
Earlier this year, Turkish security forces announced they had arrested about three dozen people across the country accused of spying for Israel. Turkish police and intelligence forces raided 57 locations across eight provinces, apprehending 33 suspected of working for the Israeli spy agency.
Lizzie Porter – correspondent based in Turkey
