All pro-government news stations in Turkey simultaneously aired the same story Oct. 13: of a Sept. 24 Turkish intelligence operation against an Iranian espionage network in southeastern province of Van. Images from the operation filled the screens, with commentary praising the operation that netted two alleged Iranian spies and six Turkish citizens. Although the arrests took place almost three weeks earlier, the government decided to hold off before making the news public. 

When asked the reasons for the delay, a former senior official in the Turkish Intelligence Agency (MIT) told Al-Monitor, “Turkey has always been a popular destination for Middle Eastern dissidents. Tailing the dissidents is the foreign intelligence services. The Turkish government has several criteria, almost an algorithm, to decide what to do with foreign dissidents. In this case, [Iranian pilot] Mehrdad Abdarbashi was given refuge in Turkey. Now, after the officer lived in Turkey for three years, why did Iranians spend time and money to kidnap him? MIT has surveillance over several Iranian spies in Turkey, sometimes a 'catch-and-release' policy is applied, if their country provides the proper code. This time, my guess is that catch-and-release did not work because Iranians failed to give what the Turkish side demanded. So MIT gets headlines and bragging rights. It is good PR for our guys. It is also a revenge move against Tehran.”

The victorious headlines ran in all the pro-government print news media, which are in desperate need of good news amid the deepening economic crisis. The frequent success stories about Turkish intelligence activities could be partially attributed to MIT head Hakan Fidan, who prefers staying out of the limelight in the rather turbulent waters of Ankara bureaucracy, but the stories also signal increasing tensions between Turkey and Iran.

Savash Porgham, a journalist with expertise on Iranian affairs, told Al-Monitor, “For a while now, the fate of political refugees between Iran and Turkey are determined by the health of relations as well as a cost-benefit analysis. This covert operation, being revealed 20 days later, can be interpreted as a sign of rising tensions.”