01.06.2013 12:23
It is frequently mentioned that Turkish intelligence agencies tends to manipulate the media.
It is frequently mentioned that Turkish intelligence agencies tends to manipulate the media. But how do intelligence agencies use the media? We can find an answer to this question by examining the news stories that appeared in the Turkish media in the wake of the Reyhanlı blasts. Let me explain in detail how the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) manipulated the media: Concerning the Reyhanlı blasts, MİT failed to provide timely intelligence and the police failed to take sufficient measures. In particular, MİT engaged in a manipulation of the media in an effort to cover up its errors.
The first media outlet used by MİT was the Hürriyet newspaper. On May 12, Hürriyet ran the headline, "MİT had warned," saying: "MİT had found that three automobiles that were loaded with explosives in the Syrian city of Ar-Raqqah on April 23 and there was a plan to attack Turkey and the bombers could use three border crossings either in Gaziantep, Hatay or Şanlıurfa." http: //www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/23261781.asp
The MİT's Ar-Raqqah manipulation was scandalous as MİT's intelligence turned out to be false. The police and gendarmerie forces took measures according to this intelligence, but they were misled. They took measures in Ankara and Adana, but Reyhanlı was attacked. Moreover, the bombers were not from Al-Nusrah as MİT initially said. Second, Ar-Raqqah is the only city in Syria that is fully controlled by the Syrian opposition. If as MİT reported, the explosives were coming from this city, then this meant the groups who are under MİT's influence were staging attacks against Turkey. (http: //www.duzceyerelhaber.com/emre-uslu/15615-yeni-bombalar-patlar-mi)
As this absurd defensive maneuver conducted via Hürriyet failed, MİT had to change its tactics. This time, they used Hande Fırat, CNN Türk's Ankara bureau chief, for their operation.
"MİT gave everything," Fırat wrote on May 15, 2013:
"MİT's latest intelligence report came two days before the incident. In other words, MİT supplied intelligence about a potential attack. (She is referring to the intelligence report on April 23 that Al-Nusrah will stage a bombed attack in Turkey and the EU). But the real or more important piece of intelligence was the one provided two days before the attack. According to sources, this report was "specific," meaning that it included the specific names, vehicles and license plates, etc. In short, it was a detailed intelligence report. "'[S]uch details are generally hard to obtain, but the intelligence report provided two days ago was detailed,' they say." (http: //www.cnnturk.com/yazarlar/hande.firat/mit.herseyi.verdi/123.6777/index.html)
MİT also had to put Fırat's news story into circulation via a newspaper that appeals to intellectuals who may happen to question the Reyhanlı incident. They tossed it to Ömer Şahin of Radikal, who wrote the following in his column titled "New era between MİT and police" on May 17, 2013: "Radikal accessed a letter MİT sent to police two days before the Reyhanlı blasts. The letter includes very detailed intelligence information. It was MİT which obtained the intelligence about the bombing. MİT shared this intelligence with police. And on May 9, the MIT warned all police units with a confidential letter." (http: //www.radikal.com.tr/turkiye/mit_ve_emniyette_yeni_donem-1133774)
Feeling itself in a tight corner because of these news stories, the National Police Department defended itself via Milliyet newspaper's reporter who deals with police affairs. However, the police force's defense was as manipulative as MİT's.
Tolga Şardan of Milliyet wrote: "It was claimed that the Hatay Police Department had sent an intelligence report coded "urgent" and "confidential"' to MİT about the blasts that killed 51 people in Reyhanlı, but MİT responded, "'Leave it to us; we are working on it.'" (http: //siyaset.milliyet.com.tr/bombacilari-mit-takip-ediyormus/siyaset/detay/1710749/default.htm)
Hüseyin Özkaya of Taraf revealed the truth. Yes, the MİT had sent an intelligence report to the Hatay Police Department, but not two days before the blasts as Fırat and Şahin claimed, but at 7: 25 p.m. on May 10, i.e., 18 hours before the blasts and two days after police learned about the potential attack and launched operations. (http: //www.taraf.com.tr/haber/bombacilar-telefonda.htm)
Taraf newspaper further claimed that MİT didn't give the police all the intelligence available to it, and it shared the information that would enable the pinpointing of the suspects only after the blasts. And Taraf asked: "Although phone conversations between the Reyhanlı suspects were intercepted at 7: 30 a.m. in the morning of the attack, the MİT Hatay Regional Directorate reported these conversations to MİT headquarters and the Police Department after the attack, why?" (http: //taraf.com.tr/haber/reyhanli-icin-hesap-vakti.htm)
As Taraf continued to question the Reyhanlı blasts, Tolga Şardan of Milliyet wrote the following to confirm Taraf's coverage: "MİT's letter came 17 hours before the attack! It was found out that based on the information provided by Mehmet G. on May 9, MİT sent a report about the blasts to the Police Department at 20: 24 one night before the attack in Reyhanlı." (http: //gundem.milliyet.com.tr/mit-yazisi-saldiridan-17-saat-once/gundem/detay/1715974/default.htm)
Then, Metehan Demir of Hürriyet said the following at a program on CNN Türk: "Let me give you a piece of confirmed information: MİT gave the police department all the details of the attack including the license plates and colors of the vehicles and the physical description of the suspects shortly before the attack. But as the police was waiting for the big fish, the blasts came." (http: //www.youtube.com/watch'feature=player_embedded&v=hsoIzyb674Y)
Demir says that the MİT provided the information available to it shortly before the attack, but he fails to ask why it didn't give it before. And he doesn't mention the information that MİT didn't provide. This is because the truth is not important, but rather perceptions are more important than the truth.
EMRE USLU (Cihan/Today's Zaman)