Ilhan Saygili, Turkey's ambassador to Switzerland, talking to the Rundschau programme
SRF
Turkey’s ambassador to Switzerland has denied allegations that his staff spied on opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ahead of Sunday’s controversial referendum on expanding presidential powers.
This content was published on
2 minutes
swissinfo.ch and agencies, swissinfo.ch and agencies/ug
Ilhan Saygili said he was sure that “no such activities were conducted within the realm of our embassy”, in an interview with Swiss public television, SRF, on Wednesday.
He added that he would be willing to cooperate with the criminal probe being carried out by the Federal Prosecutors Office into the allegations if there was evidence of espionage. The Swiss foreign ministry last month warned that it would rigorously investigate illegal intelligence activities.
According to Swiss media reports, intelligence gathering is alleged to have taken place at events at the University of Zurich in late 2016 and early 2017, in which participants were filmed or photographed.
Erdoğan supporters have been suspected of spying on alleged followers of the religious and social movement led by Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen, following last year’s failed military coup.
There are Turkish expatriates with extreme political ideas living in Switzerland, according Saygili, but he denied reports about a rift among the diaspora.
The ambassador, who took up his post in Bern last December, also accused the Swiss media of biased reporting.
Saygili also said that his deputy had been removed from office, but did not confirm media reports that the diplomat and his family had sought asylum in Switzerland.
An estimated 130,000 Turkish immigrants live in Switzerland. Many of them belong to the Kurdish minority group.
On Sunday, Turkish voters will decide on a government proposal to grant increased powers to President Erdoğan.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
Read more
More
Switzerland probes Turkish ‘political espionage’
This content was published on
On Friday, the Attorney General’s office confirmed reports on Swiss public television (SRF) of criminal proceedings initiated this month. In a statement, the prosecutor’s office said there was “concrete evidence” that political secret service espionage had taken place. The Attorney General alerted the cabinet to these suspicions and received the go-ahead to proceed by the…
Swiss refuse action over insults to Turkish president
This content was published on
Turkey had lodged four complaints to the Swiss authorities concerning the comments made on social networks against Erdogan. Switzerland rejected the request for assistance in mid-January, Folco Galli, spokesperson for the Federal Office of Justice, told Swiss public television SRF on Thursday. For legal measures to be taken, the alleged actions must be punishable in…
This content was published on
Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter has rebuked his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Cavusoglu for Turkey's political campaigning on Swiss soil.
Turkish election rally banned ahead of controversial visit
This content was published on
The decision by the Aargau cantonal police on Friday comes ahead a planned visit to Zurich by Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlüt Cavuşoğlu, on Sunday. The Swiss government said Cavuşoğlu’s visit posed “no heightened threat to domestic security”, rejecting a demand by the Zurich cantonal government. The foreign ministry added there were no grounds to limit…
This content was published on
As of Sunday evening, some 54,400 of the 95,263 Turks in Switzerland who are registered to vote back home had done so, according to the electoral commission in Ankara on Monday. The ballot boxes in embassies and consulates in Zurich, Bern and Geneva closed on Sunday a week before those in Turkey. In neighbouring Austria…
This content was published on
At a parliamentary Q&A session this week, the Swiss cabinet confirmed that 408 Turkish citizens had applied for asylum since the attempted coup in Turkey last July. These include diplomats still based in Switzerland. The Swiss authorities have declined to comment on the identities or status of the various requests. As the Tages-Anzeiger newspaperExternal link…
This content was published on
“About 1,500 over the past two-and-a-half days,” says the policeman on duty when asked how many people have passed the checkpoint in Bern’s embassy district. He is referring to Turkish citizens permitted to enter the closely guarded embassy area and have their say on a set of 18 proposed amendments to the Turkish constitution which…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.