Türkiye arrests gang seeking to kidnap Islamic Republic opponents

According to Turkish media reports, the country's National Intelligence Organization has arrested 11 people with ties to Iran who were planning to kidnap an opponent of the Islamic Republic. The detainees include prosecutors and army officers.

Turkey's Oday TV (ODA) reported that the country's National Intelligence Organization (NIS) has arrested 11 people who were in contact with the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and were planning to kidnap a dissident of the Islamic Republic. The detainees include a prosecutor from the Anatolian Court, the CEO of a defense company, retired colonels, and air force officers.

According to the media outlet, the aim of this operation was to kidnap and hand over a person named “Shahnam Golshani” to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The report stated that this person is an opponent of the Islamic Republic of Iran and has been living in the province of “Zonguldag” for many years.

Who is Shahnam Golshani?

For Deutsche Welle Farsi, the identity of “Shahnam Golshany” mentioned by Turkish media is not certain. However, in recent years, a person with the same name has been active and influential in the Iranian currency market.

Shahnam Golshani was the director of the website “Mitshqal,” which came to attention in 2011 after the market turmoil in Iran. On February 15, 2012, Mithshqal was filtered and users were banned from using it.

Two days later, the Mashreq website reported the arrest of Shahram (Shahnam) Golshani and wrote: "The director of a Baha'i-owned website that played an effective role in increasing the false prices of coins and currency was arrested by security agencies."

While the Mashreq News website considered the site's director Mithqal affiliated with Baha'iism, the editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper also spoke in an interview with Fars News Agency about the role of Baha'is in the currency market turmoil.

In 2013, some websites close to the Iranian government reported the issuance of a death sentence in a primary court against Shahnam Golshani for the crime of "corruption on earth," but the issuance of this sentence was never confirmed by judicial authorities.

In the summer of 2014, Iranian media announced that Shahnam Golshany had been released from prison and had illegally immigrated to Turkey.

How the operation and arrests were carried out

According to Oda’s report, a person named “Ali Ghahraman Hajiabad” was chosen by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence to command this operation. He came to Turkey some time ago and designed and planned the operation.

An Iranian citizen named Morteza Soltan Sanjali, who worked at the defense company "Bai Sağlam", has also been named as one of the most important links in this operation.

It is said that the owner of "Bay Sağlam" is a person named "Ihsan Sağlam", who was the one who carried out this operation and reached an agreement with retired officers and non-commissioned officers of the Turkish Air Force and a former Chinese officer to carry out this operation.

Bay Sağlam is a defense, security and military services company that supplies unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), baggage and packaging scanning devices, vehicle scanning systems, explosives and tracers, cargo aircraft, weapons, and military uniforms.

According to the report, Davut Yilmaz, the prosecutor of the Kartal Anatolian Court, will also take action in a potentially unfavorable situation.

Oda TV reported that on January 30, Morteza Sultan Senjali went to Zonguldag to assess the feasibility of the operation. However, on the way, he was contacted by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and told that he was being pursued and to immediately cancel the operation. However, the Turkish National Intelligence Organization, which was present at the operation, arrested him and the entire team, and they are currently being interrogated at the Anti-Terror Branch of the Istanbul Court.

Kidnapping of Dissidents and Relations between Iran and Türkiye

Turkey and Iran have close economic ties but have clashed over regional issues, including Syria. The kidnapping of opposition members by Iranian agents on Turkish soil has been another source of tension between the two countries.

Ammar Goli, a journalist and expert on Middle East issues in Germany, told Deutsche Welle Persian: "These types of Iranian intelligence operations in Turkey have a long history, and at least in the past two years, Turkish media have published reports three times about the destruction of gangs linked to Iran. The Habib Asyud case, the assassination case of Massoud Molavi, and the kidnapping case of a former Iranian military pilot are among the cases that have created a media buzz. However, in most cases, the Turkish government has not directly accused Iran and has merely initiated criminal cases against individuals linked to the Islamic Republic."

Goli continues: "Perhaps in the short term, the disclosure of such operations will cause differences between the two countries, but the security, political, and commercial relations between the two countries will not change or be in crisis due to such operations."

The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and the Turkish police announced on September 24, 2021, that in a joint operation in Van province, they arrested eight people, including “two Iranian spies,” who were planning to kidnap and forcibly return “M.A.”, a former Iranian military official.

Also last February, an employee of the Iranian consulate in Istanbul was arrested in the country for investigating the assassination of an Islamic Republic dissident in 2019.

Source: DW