Alleged Turkish spy says he was ordered to kill Austrian politician

An alleged Turkish spy said he was ordered to assassinate an Austrian politician of Kurdish heritage, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday, citing a police report obtained by the British daily.

Feyyaz Öztürk, an Italian citizen of Turkish origin, said the National Intelligence Organisation (MİT), Turkey’s intelligence agency, blackmailed him to assassinate Vienna deputy Berivan Aslan, according to the Daily Mail.

Öztürk stated Aslan was to be assassinated in March, but the operation never went ahead because he broke his leg in an accident while in Italy, the Daily Mail said. Aslan has been placed under police protection and is unable to leave her home without a bullet-proof vest, it said.

The planned attack was part of a larger operation to “spread chaos” and intimidate, rather than inflict harm or kill, Aslan and other politicians such as Peter Pilz, founder of the opposition Now Party, Öztürk said. Pilz served on the intelligence oversight committee and is a longstanding and vocal critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his treatment of the Kurdish population.

Öztürk’s lawyer, Daniel Mozga, confirmed the man was charged with spying for a foreign state and said that he turned himself in to the police, according to the Daily Mail.

Turkey denied Öztürk’s claims and suggested he has no links to the state, the Daily Mail said.

Aslan had revealed a network of MİT agents in Vienna and several other Austrian provinces that were tasked with creating unrest among Turkish and Kurdish communities in the country.