Mehmet Eymür

Mehmet Eymür (5 September 1943 – 13 January 2024) was a Turkish intelligence official. In 1995–1996, he led the counter-terrorism department of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), which he joined as a student in 1965 as a "pursuit officer" .

Background and personal life Eymür was born in Istanbul in 1943 as the son of Mazhar Eymür, a leading member of the MİT's predecessor, the National Security Service (MAH). Mazhar Eymür took part in suppressing the Dersim rebellion.

Eymür joined the agency after completing TED Ankara Koleji. He attended the İstanbul Academy of Economic and Financial Sciences .

Eymür had a spouse named Canset; a son, Alp, and was involved in the Ziverbey Villa interrogations after the 1971 Turkish coup d'état, together with Hiram Abas.

Eymür gained fame for taking down numerous gangsters in the 1984 "Godfathers Operation" while heading the Smuggling Department, in concert with Atilla Aytek of the police force's smuggling department . The operation captured mob bosses including Dündar Kılıç.

Eymür prepared the controversial 1987 MIT Report that accused high ranking civil servants in the police and politicians such as Nevzat Ayaz, Ünal Erkan, and Mehmet Ağar of having connections to the mafia. The report was leaked, and published in 2000'e Doğru in January 1988. He was forced to resign on 10 June 1988. His colleague Hiram Abas, who was deputy chief of MIT and also discharged at the time, was critical of Eymür for divulging information.

Eymür subsequently entered the ice producing business in Antalya with a MİT colleague called Korkut Eken, however this partnership ended after five years on acrimonious terms. Avni Özgürel of Radikal says that the department was led by Hiram Abas. Next came the Operations Department , where he was deputy chief to Şenkal Atasagun. The two did not get along, so Eymür asked the undersecretary, Sönmez Köksal, for a different position.

Counter-Terrorism Department (1995–1996) On 31 January 1995, he was moved to the newly established Counter-Terrorism Department. was active in the Kurdish–Turkish conflict.

According to Eymür, he was at this time introduced to contract killer Mahmut Yıldırım, better known as Yeşil, after Yeşil was moved to Ankara by JİTEM. Eymür said he was then unaware of Yeşil status as a wanted criminal. Eymür said he used Yeşil in several operations, but only outside Turkey, and that he was never formally an MIT agent. At the Counter-Terrorism Department, Eymür said he almost had the PKK's leader, Abdullah Öcalan, assassinated, but failed due to irresponsible management of fiscal resources and sabotage (external, and inside the agency).

When Mesut Yılmaz replaced Çiller as prime minister in March 1996, he ordered the fifty-person department dissolved. Yılmaz said that the MİT strongly opposed Eymür's gang, and that such illegal activities now take place in the General Directorate of Security (police force) instead. Yılmaz said that the illegal group was loyal to Fethullah Gülen, a notable religious figure. It was published in Aydınlık on 17 September 1996.

Eymür finally left the MİT in 1999, and moved to McLean, Virginia; the headquarters of the CIA. He says he would entertain offers to consult the CIA as a terrorism expert. In March 2000 he launched a website documenting links between the Turkish state and the Turkish mafia; he faced criminal charges for divulging state secrets.

Eymür died on 13 January 2024, at the age of 80. Next day, he was buried at Aşiyan Asri Cemetery.

Ergenekon From 2008 Eymür was mentioned numerous times in the Turkish press as being the superior of Tuncay Güney; the mysterious figure, who helped launch the Ergenekon investigation. Eymür vehemently denied any connection.

Books Ferhat Ünlü (2001), Eymür'ün aynası: eski MİT yöneticisi anlatıyor, Metis Yayınları Talat Turhan, Orhan Gökdemir (1999), Mehmet Eymür: Ziverbey'den Susurluk'a bir MİT'çinin portresi, Sorun Yayınları