Turkish dissidents in Canada living in fear – researchers

Turkey has been engaging in a campaign to silence its citizens living in Canada who are critical of the government, analysts Mehmet Baştuğ and Davut Akça wrote in an article for the Conversation news website on Wednesday.

Baştuğ, a lecturer at Lakeside University, and Akça, a researcher at the University of Saskatchewan, said their research revealed that dissidents made significant changes to their lives to protect themselves, including moving to another neighbourhood or city, changing daily routines, avoiding certain places or attending group activities.

“They prefer not to connect with other Turkish people because they fear they’ll be spied on, abducted or forcibly returned to Turkey,” they said.

“However, many of them view Canada as a safe country where they can raise their voices through democratic channels. They also hope that Turkey will ultimately abandon its aggressive policies against opposing voices and respect human rights in the future.”

Citing a July 6 news report of the Turkish government targeting 15 Turkish Canadians as part of a terrorism investigation, Baştuğ and Akça said such planned and organised espionage activity “goes beyond its immediate targets” and could “pose a danger to public safety”.

They listed Turkey’s three-phase campaign aboard to silence dissidents in recent years: propaganda activities through Turkish state entities and pro-government civil society organisations to discredit opposition groups; intelligence-gathering and espionage activities; and intimidation, threats and abduction.

They cited examples of Turkey’s “defamatory propaganda activities” in Western countries. The Daily Telegraph reported last month that Turkey-linked mosques and community centres in Britain were used to hand out anti-Kurdish material.

In Canada, the religious affairs office of the Turkish Consulate General in Toronto organised a mosque visit and delivered booklets voicing opinions against opposition groups. This was “apparently to demonise them in the eyes of other Islamic groups in greater Toronto area”, Baştuğ and Akça wrote.

A 2019 report prepared by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency (BfV) highlighted that Turkish intelligence activities were on the rise, including the use of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DİTİB), which oversees hundreds of mosques and religious associations in Germany.  Imams of DITIB were accused by German authorities of gathering intelligence about dissidents on behalf of the Turkish government.

Intimidation is another tactic used on opponents, Baştuğ and Akça said.

“Turkish agents threatened regime critics to convince them to provide information about targeted groups and organisations abroad. Those whose immediate family members are still in Turkey are particularly targeted,” they said.