 said in its 2025 annual report that it thwarted espionage activity and exposed agent networks run by foreign intelligence services and front entities.){kind=link}
Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MİT) said in its 2025 annual report that it thwarted espionage activity and exposed agent networks run by foreign intelligence services and front entities.
The report, signed by MİT Director İbrahim Kalın, said the agency expanded technical intelligence capabilities including big data analysis, artificial intelligence, satellite intelligence and cyber intelligence. The report did not name specific countries.
The report said MİT spent 36.3 billion Turkish lira in 2025, above an initial allocation of 28.9 billion lira.
The text summarizes publicly reported operations in 2025 and early 2026 that Turkish authorities described as targeting networks linked to Israel’s Mossad, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence and a China-linked cyber espionage network.
The report references cases described by prosecutors and courts, including an April 2025 İstanbul verdict sentencing six people in a case prosecutors described as espionage for Mossad; an October 2025 detention tied to alleged surveillance of a Palestinian activist in İstanbul; and a February detention of two suspects accused of gathering information on Palestinian activists and passing it to Mossad handlers.
It also describes March 2025 detentions of five suspects in raids in İstanbul, Antalya and Mersin in a case linked by authorities to Iranian intelligence and the January 2026 detention of six suspects across five provinces in a separate case that prosecutors said involved reconnaissance of İncirlik Air Base and drone-related plans tied to Iran-linked operatives.
The report describes a May 2025 case in which seven foreign nationals were detained in İstanbul after authorities said they used fake mobile base stations to intercept communications and send phishing messages, with data sent to servers in China.
It also summarizes other investigations in November and December 2025 involving detentions in İstanbul and cyber-related cases, including arrests described as the first under Turkey’s Cyber Security Law No. 7545 and actions to shut down websites hosting illegally obtained personal data.
In a foreword, Kalın framed the counter-espionage activity within what he described as growing geopolitical uncertainty, citing MİT’s role in Gaza ceasefire diplomacy and the government’s peace initiative with Kurdish militants.