Serious revelations about how Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Turkey finances surveillance and espionage networks in European countries bring to light the Nordic monitor, causing uproar in diplomatic and political circles in Brussels.
According to the research, European funds intended for “social integration”, combating terrorism or managing migration flows are being used by Ankara to create parastatal espionage mechanisms and political surveillance of Turkish exiles and Kurdish activists abroad.
Turkey has allegedly "recruited" employees from NGOs, cultural centers and Islamic communities, mainly in Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and Austria, with the aim of monitoring dissidents and creating "files" for those who oppose the Erdogan regime.
The "net" is expanding – Is Europe silent?
The report states that this "network" operates under the cover of official institutions and often through Turkish embassies and consulates, with the full support of Turkey's intelligence services (MIT).
The most worrying fact, however, is that part of the funding comes from European programs, which raises serious questions about the control and supervision of European funds.
Turkey in 2025: repression, arrests and political persecution
The same time, The Erdogan regime is intensifying internal repressionAs recently as July 1, 2025, Turkish authorities arrested the former mayor of Izmir, Tounc Sawyer, along with 156 of his party's executives, on corruption charges. Sawyer, popular in liberal circles, is accused by the regime of "wasting public money" — a charge that many consider trumped-up.
At the same time, the detention of the former mayor of Istanbul continues, Ekrem Imamoglou, who has been in Silivri prison since March, with serious charges of terrorism, money laundering and insulting the judiciary. The Imamoglu case has caused an international outcry and is considered political elimination of a powerful opponent of Erdogan.
Editorial Comment
If the Nordic Monitor findings are confirmed, we are facing a unprecedented breach of trust: European funds, instead of supporting democracy, are used for to build mechanisms of fear and silence within European societies themselves.
The silence of the European institutions it is deafeningThe question that now arises is not only what did they know, but what do they intend to do.
The article is based on the revealing investigation by Nordic Monitor, a DW report, and legal documents related to the prosecution of Sawyer and Imamoglu.
I am including a full video interview of him. Abdullah Bozkurt, director of Nordic Monitor, in which he analyzes with "hard" truths the way the Turkish government constructs illegal spy networks in Europe, using cultural structures, NGOs and European funds as revealed by Nordic Monitor
Turkey's Overlooked Campaign Against Critics with Abdullah Bozkurt
video source
Middle East Forum
From the journalistic team of Greek News and Radio FL
photo Rory Arnold – https://www.flickr.com/photos/ukgov/53488658156/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=144614026 - https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/
