Trial in Innsbruck

Espionage thriller: Turks betrayed to secret service?

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(Bild: ASSOCIATED PRESS)

A trio living in Tyrol is alleged to have betrayed members of the opposition Gülen movement to the Turkish secret service. At the trial in Innsbruck, they deny the accusations.

Photos as well as film and tape recordings were strictly forbidden on Monday at the Innsbruck provincial court. An explosive espionage trial began under the strictest security precautions. Three Turks living in Tyrol - two men and one woman - are alleged to have provided the Turkish secret service Milli Istihbarat Teşkilatı - MIT for short - with information about "conspicuous" compatriots in Austria.

Gülen supporters spied on
Supporters of Fetullah Gülen, arch-enemy of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and now deceased in the USA, are said to have been particularly affected. People close to the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) were apparently also spied on.

Lured back home for secret service interrogation
The alleged spies are also said to have lured two men to Turkey with the promise of a gold deal so that they could be interrogated there by the secret service. The accused are also said to have sent a compromising video of a religious teacher working in Austria.

"I have nothing to do with the MIT, know nothing about a gold deal and have not written a three-hundred-page dossier with names," the first defendant, like the two men, denied all accusations. The dossier was merely intended to take action against the board of a mosque with which there were problems. The woman only knew the secret service from films. Postponed until Wednesday...