Turkey runs informer network in Austria to target critics: MP

A senior Austrian opposition lawmaker has accused Turkey of running an informer network via its embassy in Vienna aimed at targeting the critics of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and promoting his policies.

On Tuesday, Peter Pilz, from the Austrian Greens party, said at a news conference that he had sent documents regarding the activities of the network, run by the umbrella group ATIB, to the police.

The ATIB is headed by the religious attaché at Turkey's embassy, Fatih Mehmet Karadas, and oversees the activities of dozens of mosques across Austria.

"The ATIB umbrella group is an instrument of hard, ruthless and, in my view, legally unacceptable Turkish government politics in Austria," Pilz told a news conference.

Pilz noted that the Turkish government sends imams to work for the ATIB to collect information in particular about followers of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Erdogan has accused of plotting an attempted coup in Turkey last July.

Gulen denies any involvement in the abortive coup, which claimed the lives of at least 240 people. However, the Turkish government has arrested tens of thousands of people over suspected ties with the US-based cleric.

The umbrella organization also monitors Turkish Kurds, Turkish opposition politicians and journalists in Austria, Pilz added.

Responding to the comments by the Austrian lawmaker, the Turkish government and the ATIB issued separate statements, denying the accusations.

“We absolutely reject these allegations. We urge Austrian officials to act with reason and to refrain from statements that would harm Turkish-Austrian relations and the peace of the Turkish community in Austria,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a statement.

In another statement, the ATIB said that as an Austrian body it did not tolerate any foreign interference.

Austria's Chancellery and Interior Ministry said their experts are examining the matter.

In a similar case last month, Germany's domestic spy agency launched a probe into possible spying by Turkish clerics following a complaint by a German Green politician.

Last week, the Turkish embassy informed the Austrian Foreign Ministry that its religion attaché would end his activities in Vienna "soon," without providing a reason.

In a Sunday interview, Karadas told an Austrian newspaper that ATIB does not oversee the people's private lives, but said it has a duty to ensure that the people of Turkish origin in Austria are not "radicalized" by Gulen.

"That's why it is legitimate for us to do research and deliver reports in order to protect our fellow citizens and to protect the Austrian people," Karadas said.

Gulen denies any involvement in last summer's coup attempt.

Turkey's wide-ranging crackdown following the coup has been criticized by Austria and other EU nations.

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