Swiss investigate spying on Turkish community


Date posted: March 25, 2017

ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland has launched a criminal investigation into possible foreign spying on the country’s Turkish community, federal prosecutors said on Friday.

The Swiss foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart on Thursday that Switzerland would “rigorously investigate” any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks before an April 16 referendum that could expand Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.

“The Office of the Attorney General has been made aware of concrete suspicion that political espionage has likely been conducted involving the Turkish community in Switzerland,” the office said on Friday, giving no other details about the probe that began on March 16.

For weeks, neutral Switzerland has been trying to avoid becoming entangled in a bitter dispute between Ankara and other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians to drum up support for Erdogan among Turks living abroad.

Turkey’s president has accused Germany and the Netherlands of behaving like Nazis for halting rallies by Turkish ministers, comments that both countries have called unacceptable.

The Swiss investigation follows alleged political intelligence gathering in which participants at events at the University of Zurich in late 2016 and early 2017 were filmed or photographed.

One instance was in December, where Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet’s chief editor was honored, Swiss media have reported. The second incident was in January during an academic forum on the massacre of Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago that Armenians consider genocide, a term Ankara rejects.

The university in Switzerland’s financial capital did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking comment.

The prosecutors’ statement cited a Swiss law that forbids intelligence gathering in the interest of a foreign state that harms Switzerland or its people. Punishments include up to three years in prison or fines.

Allegations of intelligence gathering by Erdogan supporters have arisen elsewhere in Europe.

Last month, German police raided the apartments of four imams suspected of spying for Turkey’s government on followers of U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of organizing a failed coup last July.

The head of Turkey’s Diyanet religious authority, Mehmet Gormez, denied its imams had been involved in illegal activities and said espionage investigations had defamed the organization.

Swiss government statistics show 68,000 Turkish citizens live in Switzerland. The Turkish embassy’s website refers to 130,000 Turkish citizens.


Reporting by John Miller and John Revill,; Editing by Michael Shields and Ed Osmond

Source: Reuters , March 24, 2017


Related News

Gülen’s lawyer denies allegation of plot against Erdoğan’s daughter, calls it ’immoral slander’

A lawyer for Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen categorically denied claims by pro-government newspapers that Gülen ordered the assassination of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan ahead of the June 7 general elections, calling the allegations “immoral slander” that he regrets even having to deny.

Int’l scholars discuss ijtihad, qiyas at İstanbul symposium

Around 1,000 theologians, academics and opinion leaders from more than 100 countries gathered for a two-day symposium in İstanbul over the weekend to discuss the importance of ijtihad and qiyas in Islam.

Minister: Turkish gov’t racks up $5 bln in confiscation of Gülen-linked properties

The value of immovable properties including dormitories, real estates and schools that the government has confiscated as part of its clampdown against Gülen movement so far, totals around TL 15 billion or $4.9 billion, according to Environment and Urban Planning Minister Mehmet Özhaseki.

Toward the ‘Mubarak model’

As Turkey’s all-inclusive civil society organization, the Hizmet movement, which has always advocated human rights and freedom, adopted democracy, worked to make the state more transparent and accountable, supported Turkey’s accession to the EU and its integration into the world, has become a target.

Watson: My expressions were twisted by Sabah Daily

British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party Watson said he was disappointed by an interview published in the Sabah daily as the meanings of his expressions were misconstrued.

2017 model bigotry: Defamation of Jews and Gulen movement in Turkey

Let me just remind you of some examples of the anti-Semitic discourse and hate speech in the Turkish media from the State Department’s report. “In December Forestry Minister Veysel Eroğlu said that Fethullah Gülen will end up dying in the U.S. and be buried in a Jewish cemetery.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Rwanda’s First Lady Receives Turkish School Administrators

455 water wells opened in Pakistan thanks to Kimse Yok Mu

Gülen’s lawyer appeals arrest warrant

Prosecutor’s office launches investigation into Şahin’s claim

The Hizmet Movement: Reflections from Sri Lanka

A Forum On Africa in Turkey (I)

The gravest-ever smear

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News