Turkish police have detained three executives from defense contractors operating in the country, accusing them of spying for foreign powers, the DHA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing a statement from the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The prosecutor’s office said senior personnel working in Turkey’s defense industry had attempted to collect biographical information on foreign officials and to establish contact with public institutions and representatives of other countries.
The investigation, coordinated jointly by the İstanbul Police Department’s counterterrorism unit and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), aims to identify and disrupt espionage-related activities.
The prosecutor’s office said four people were identified in connection with the case. Police carried out an operation on Tuesday, detaining three suspects, while a fourth was not taken into custody because they were abroad. A warrant was issued for that person’s arrest.
An earlier version of the prosecutor’s statement had explicitly alleged that the espionage activities were conducted on behalf of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), claiming that UAE intelligence officers had obtained a GSM number from a Turkish operator and used fake online profiles to contact senior personnel in the defense industry.
The initial statement also mentioned efforts to gather information about a phone used by the foreign ministry and specified that one of the suspects had transported the GSM line to the UAE to deliver it directly to intelligence operatives.
These details were later removed in the revised statement posted on social media, which omitted any reference to the UAE, the GSM line transfer, fake profiles or the foreign ministry phone.
Turkey’s defense exports grew by 29 percent ($7.15 billion) in 2024, according to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, driven primarily by the success of its military drones.
The prosecutor’s office later contradicted its own earlier announcement, issuing an additional statement saying that the suspects had no links to the United Arab Emirates.
The new statement said, “Based on information obtained from our security sources regarding the espionage investigation announced today, it has been understood that the suspects have no connection to the United Arab Emirates.
The abrupt correction raises further questions about the basis of the initial announcement, which explicitly accused the suspects of conducting political or military espionage on behalf of the UAE.
The reversal of the prosecutor’s statement comes amid a recent effort by Ankara and Abu Dhabi to repair long-strained ties.
Turkey and the UAE backed opposing sides in regional conflicts and have sparred over issues including gas exploration in the eastern Mediterranean.
But since 2021 President Erdoğan has sought to improve relations with regional rivals amid growing diplomatic isolation and declining Western investment.
In early 2022 Erdoğan made his first visit to the UAE in nearly a decade and urged business leaders there to invest in Turkey.
His trip followed a rare visit by then-crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to Ankara in November 2021, after which the UAE announced a $10 billion fund for investments in Turkey.
As UAE president, Al Nahyan also traveled to Turkey in July for a state visit and the inaugural meeting of the Turkey-UAE High-Level Strategic Council. The visit, which included talks with Erdoğan, focused on strengthening bilateral ties, economic cooperation and discussing regional issues, resulting in the signing of seven agreements.
In recent months the conflict in Sudan has revived some of the underlying tensions between the two regional rivals. The Sudanese army has repeatedly accused the UAE of supplying weapons and other support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an allegation Abu Dhabi denies.
Turkey has backed the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), providing Bayraktar TB2 drones along with Turkish operators.
Turkey has also in recent years detained dozens of suspects accused of working for foreign intelligence services, including those linked to Israel, Russia and Iran.