Turkey investigating a Dutch spy: report
Various Turkish media sources report that Turkey launched an investigation into a Dutch diplomat believed to work in Turkey as a spy.
News station A-Haber and newspapers Aksam and Sabah all published reports on this story on Monday, NOS reports. According to the Turkish media, Dutch man A.Z. is in Turkey on a diplomatic passport.
A-Haber reports that he is in Turkey to investigate links between the Turkish government and terrorist organization ISIS, and the Turkish operation in Afrin, Syria. The news station published footage that appears to be from surveillance cameras on Taksim Square in the center of Istanbul. The photos show a man greeting two other men, talking for a time, and then walking off together.
According to the two newspapers, the Turkish intelligence service has been following the Dutch man for some time. The newspapers published a picture of two men talking to each other in a restaurant. They report that the Dutch man also worked in Afghanistan, attended meetings with members of the Syrian opposition, and gave large sums of money to informants. According to Sabah, the Dutch man intended to distribute false information about the relationship between Turkey and ISIS.
The Turkish media report that the Turkish government asked the Netherlands for clarification.
The relationship between the Netherlands and Turkey has been in a state of diplomatic crisis since March last year. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors, and talks about resolving the crisis stranded in January. Tensions increased in February when Dutch parliament recognized the Armenian genocide.
According to NOS, A-Haber is the largest news channel in Turkey and works under the direction of the Turkish government and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Aksam and Sabah are also known as pro-government newspapers.
