Erdogan's diplomatic hunt in Chile
The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation into five Turkish nationals who were on the list dispatched by Turkish diplomats in Chile without any concrete evidence of wrongdoing.
It was also revealed in 2019 that the Turkish Embassy in Chile developed assets within the Socialist Party of Chile to spy on critics of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkish embassies are also spying on the private and confidential information of citizens who have registered for consular services.
The foreign ministry sent lists of profiled Turkish nationals to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the national police and Turkey’s intelligence agency MIT for further administrative or legal action, the punishment of their relatives back in Turkey and the seizure of their assets.
The authoritarian government of Turkey's president Ragab Tayyeb Erdogan does not tolerate anyone who challenges the official narrative. Hundreds have been arrested in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt.
Critics of the Erdogan government abroad, especially members of the Gulen movement, have been facing surveillance, harassment, death threats and abduction since President Erdogan decided to scapegoat the group for his own legal troubles.
They have often been denied consular services such as power of attorney and birth registry as well as having their passports revoked. Their assets in Turkey are seized and their family members at home risk criminal charges.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed systematic spying on Turkish government critics on foreign soil as by Turkish diplomatic missions in February, 2020.
Çavuşoğlu said Turkish diplomats assigned to embassies and consulates have officially been instructed by the government to conduct such activities abroad.
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