More than 60,000 people in Turkey provided information concerning threats to national security to the country’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) in the first eight months of 2022, the Ankara Gazetecisi news website reported over the weekend.
Under a section titled “How you can help” on the official MİT website, citizens are urged to share any information regarding threats to national security together with their name, phone number, e-mail address and residence or business address.
Citing website statistics, Ankara Gazetecisi reported that 6,721 tips were received in September 2021, increasing to 9,180 in July 2022 and 11,013 last month –- the highest in the past year.
A total of 150,807 people visited the website in August, one of the lowest figures in the past year, Ankara Gazetecisi also said, adding that 296,316 visited in April 2022 and 340,492 in October 2021, during periods when the website was visited the most.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who launched a massive crackdown on non-loyalist citizens following a failed coup on July 15, 2016, on several occasions called on ordinary people to inform the authorities about the activities of the Gülen movement.
The Turkish government labels the Gülen movement a terrorist organization and accuses it of masterminding the failed coup in 2016. Fethullah Gülen, a cleric resident in the US whose views have inspired the movement, strongly rejects any involvement in the coup attempt or any terrorist activity.
MİT has abducted scores of the country’s citizens abroad over the past six years, with the kidnappings and forced renditions being mostly of suspected supporters of Gülen.