Turkish Right to Information Blog

Archive for April 21st, 2008

An interesting story hit the Turkish news in the first few weeks of April 2008. According to various articles in the Turkish media the military found to be recording dissidents and their activities. Parts of a 73-page document which lists all academics, journalists, NGOs and businessmen that have been classified as having received support from the US or EU was leaked to the media. Details of this story is provided below through an article published in English in the Turkish Daily News. More interestingly, I am also listed in this story as having received funding from George Soros’s Open Society Institute (which is true – see publicly available information on this) and am classified as working in the field of freedom of information, very interesting classified stuff!

I have now lodged a right to information request and asked the Chief of General Staff (the top military organization in Turkey) to provide me information about myself included within the classified document, and the legal basis for my inclusion in the classified document. I will report back when I hear from the Chief of General Staff.

Military found to be recording ‘dissidents’ again
Turkish Daily News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008

73-page document lists all academics, journalists, NGOs and businessmen that have been classified as having received support from the US or EU

ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

The military listed all institutions, academics, journalists and businessmen who in any manner received European Union or United States support in a top-secret report dated March 2006, newspapers reported yesterday.

The story was first reported Monday in daily Taraf and it was not refuted by the Office of the Chief of General Staff. The report was prepared by a colonel and submitted to the deputy chief of staff of the time, Işık Koşaner, the current gendarmerie commander.

According to the document, the report was prepared to highlight the efforts of NGOs that were supported by the EU and the United States for their own purposes.

Of the 73-page-report, 25 pages are allocated to financier George Soros, cited in the report as the man responsible for the chaos in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The report also noted the meetings between Soros and President Abdullah Gül, who was the foreign minister at the time.

Figures were included in the report to illustrate the links between various NGOs and intermediaries. Various Turkish institutions received 88.5 million euros from the EU for 335 projects.

It also lists friendly NGOs and companies that need to be supported.

Taraf yesterday argued that the military objected to the funds provided by the EU because the recipients were civilian, noting that the Office of the Chief of Staff had received 12.7 million euros in 2007 for its project to teach conscripts to read and write and various professional skills.