The year 2025 marked a watershed moment for Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which executed a remarkably aggressive and far-reaching strategy that redefined its role on the global and domestic stages. This was not a year of reactive measures but one defined by a cohesive, multi-domain intelligence war, driven by a national security doctrine focused on neutralizing threats at their source, dismantling sophisticated espionage rings, and leveraging intelligence as a primary instrument of statecraft. The coordinated activities revealed an assertive new posture that blended surgical strikes abroad with complex counterintelligence operations at home, signaling a pivotal shift in the nation’s approach to defending its interests in an increasingly volatile world.
A New Doctrine in Counterterrorism
Decapitation Strikes Abroad
A central tenet of Türkiye’s intelligence offensive was a persistent campaign to dismantle terrorist leadership structures abroad before they could orchestrate attacks on Turkish soil. The primary focus of this strategy was the PKK, against which MIT conducted a series of high-stakes precision operations deep inside northern Iraq and Syria. These were not indiscriminate actions but targeted decapitation strikes aimed at crippling the organization’s command and control. In January, an operation in Iraq’s Hakurk region eliminated two key members, Zeynep Aslan and Zeliha Mahcup. This was followed by a more significant strike in Sulaymaniyah that neutralized two senior figures, Islam Dotkanlou and Akam Sahe, who were reportedly responsible for the group’s organizational framework in Iran. The campaign continued methodically throughout the year, with operatives like Murat Keles and Siraz Omer targeted and eliminated, disrupting the group’s operational capacity and logistical lifelines across the region in a clear demonstration of a proactive security doctrine.
The war on terror also underscored the critical importance of international cooperation in confronting transnational threats, particularly Daesh. In a landmark collaboration with Pakistan’s intelligence agency, MIT successfully located and captured Ozgur Altun, a senior media official for Daesh’s Khorasan branch (Daesh-K) who was on Türkiye’s most-wanted list. This cross-border rendition was followed later in the year by another major success in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, where Mehmet Goren, another high-ranking Daesh-Khorasan manager, was apprehended after an intensive intelligence effort. These complex operations, which required deep coordination with foreign partners, showcased MIT’s expanding global reach and its ability to project power far beyond its borders. This international effort was complemented by vigilant domestic actions, such as the foiling of a potential New Year’s Eve attack in Malatya, illustrating a comprehensive strategy that addressed threats both at their foreign source and within the homeland.
Closing Cold Cases and Securing Borders
Beyond confronting active combatants, a significant driver of MIT’s 2025 operations was a deep-seated commitment to ensuring there would be no safe haven for fugitives linked to historical atrocities. This pursuit of long-term justice was powerfully demonstrated by the capture of key perpetrators behind the deadly 2013 Reyhanli bombing, which claimed 53 lives. Over a decade after the attack, Muhammed Dib Korali was apprehended in Syria, and a subsequent operation caught another suspect, Temir Dukanci, as he attempted to flee near the Syria-Lebanon border. Their transfer to Türkiye for prosecution sent an unequivocal message that accountability has no statute of limitations. This long-arm approach to justice was not merely symbolic; it served to reinforce national resolve, deny closure to perpetrators, and demonstrate that the state’s memory is long and its reach is patient, a critical component of its deterrence strategy.
The intelligence agency also broadened its focus to dismantle the crucial support networks that sustain terrorist organizations, particularly those operating within Europe. This was highlighted by a joint operation with Istanbul police that resulted in the capture of Medeni Altundere, a member of the PKK’s France-based structure. His apprehension was not an isolated event but part of a wider strategic effort to disrupt the logistical, financial, and recruitment arms of terror groups that leverage the legal and political systems of other nations to their advantage. By targeting these facilitators, MIT aimed to sever the lifelines that connect terrorist operatives in the field with their ideological and material backers abroad. This focus on the entire ecosystem of terrorism, from frontline fighters to overseas supporters, represented a more holistic and sophisticated approach to counterterrorism that acknowledged the global nature of modern threats.
The Digital and Diplomatic Fronts
Countering Espionage in the Cyber Age
The intelligence battles of 2025 were waged with equal intensity in the digital realm, where the escalating threats of cybercrime and foreign espionage compelled a robust defensive posture. MIT launched an aggressive and sustained counterintelligence campaign to uncover and disrupt an espionage network linked to Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad. In a series of meticulously planned joint operations with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and police in Istanbul, several individuals were detained for allegedly working with Mossad. Operatives like Serkan Cicek were accused of direct collaboration, while others, including a lawyer named Tugrulhan Dip, were detained for allegedly supplying sensitive information to foreign handlers. These efforts, which extended to further detentions in other provinces, signaled a determined push to defend national sovereignty against foreign intelligence infiltration in an era where espionage is increasingly conducted through digital means.
On a parallel track, the agency devoted significant resources to combating cybercrime and protecting the personal data of its citizens from malicious actors. A prominent operation dismantled a network of seven foreign nationals who were using sophisticated fake base stations to send fraudulent SMS messages for financial scams. In a larger, multi-agency effort involving the Gendarmerie and financial crimes investigators, MIT targeted illegal online systems that were illicitly accessing and selling citizens’ private data, leading to arrests and website shutdowns across four cities. The agency also uncovered advanced software, deceptively marketed to legal professionals under names like “Avatar,” that provided unlawful access to sensitive personal information. The subsequent arrests of the software’s developers underscored a firm commitment to safeguarding the digital domain as a critical component of national security.
Intelligence as an Instrument of Statecraft
A defining characteristic of Türkiye’s 2025 strategy was the adept use of intelligence assets for high-stakes diplomatic and humanitarian purposes, showcasing the agency’s evolution beyond traditional security roles. This was most prominently demonstrated in January when MIT successfully facilitated the release of five Thai hostages held by Hamas in Gaza. Operating discreetly under a presidential directive, the agency leveraged its unique network of contacts and its position as a trusted interlocutor to achieve a significant humanitarian victory. This effort was part of a broader, quiet diplomatic role in the wider agreement reached between Hamas and Israel concerning prisoner exchanges. Such operations highlighted a strategic pivot toward using intelligence not merely as a defensive shield but as a proactive instrument of soft power, capable of advancing Türkiye’s influence and resolving complex international crises.
While its global reach expanded, MIT maintained an unwavering focus on neutralizing enduring domestic threats, particularly the network of the Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO). The agency’s operations were driven by a comprehensive, two-pronged strategy aimed at dismantling both the group’s fugitive human networks and its deep-rooted financial underpinnings. Coordinated operations across six provinces successfully intercepted seven convicted FETO members as they attempted to flee the country after their sentences were upheld by Türkiye’s highest court. Simultaneously, a major blow was dealt to the organization’s financial backbone through a sweeping operation targeting the owners and affiliates of major supermarket chains HAKMAR and TATBAK. Following detentions on charges of financing terrorism, government trustees were appointed to manage the companies, effectively severing a key source of funding and demonstrating a strategic commitment to uprooting the organization’s entire domestic ecosystem.
A Blueprint for a New Security Era
The wide-ranging operations conducted by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization in 2025 established a new and formidable precedent for the nation’s security posture. The year was defined not by a single success but by the seamless integration of kinetic action, cyber defense, counterintelligence, and quiet diplomacy into a unified strategic framework. MIT’s activities demonstrated that in the modern geopolitical landscape, effective national security requires a dynamic, multi-domain approach that is as comfortable negotiating a hostage release as it is dismantling a cross-border terror cell. This comprehensive and proactive doctrine, which treated intelligence as a versatile tool of statecraft, became the defining characteristic of Türkiye’s approach to confronting the multifaceted challenges of a complex world.
