Info:
Iranian Consulate General’s cultural attaché Hassan Shabani is a suspect in the Quds Force probe;
Ata Şenlikci, the head of the research, development and technology department at the Turkish Presidency of the Defense Industry (SSB) — a top government body that decides on the procurement of military equipment and helps develop defense industry infrastructure — was believed to be operating within a Quds Force network according to investigators who named him as a suspect in a counterterrorism investigation;
The evidence collected through court-authorized surveillance and wiretaps from 2011 to 2014 led the investigators to conclude that Şenlikci was part of a Quds Force operation in Turkey and was working closely with the Iranian Consulate General’s cultural attaché, Hassan Shabani, also a suspect in the Quds Force probe. The two had been trying to establish an Iran chair at Istanbul University, where Şenlikci was working as an academic at the time, and were making efforts to recruit dozens of students as assets under the guise of various educational and cultural programs financed by Iran;
A wiretap dated February 24, 2012 showed him talking to a man named Volkan Çelik (aka Sadik) as a followup conversation on establishing an Iranian history and culture room at Istanbul University. Prior to the phone call, Çelik and Iranian cultural attaché Hasan Shabani met with Şenlikci to talk about the proposal. The phone call concerned its technical details;
Country:
Turkey
Reason for the color:
» IRGC Quds Force asset runs research arm of Turkey’s top defense industry agency;