Detained on 'espionage' charges, DEVA Party founder Metin Gürcan arrested

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Detained for "political and military espionage" on November 26, Democracy and Progress (DEVA) Party founding member Metin Gürcan has been arrested by the criminal judgeship of peace on duty.

Following the related formalities in İstanbul, Metin Gürcan was taken to the capital city of Ankara. After he was interrogated at the Ankara Provincial Security Directorate's Counterterrorism Department, he underwent a medical check and was referred to the courthouse.

Giving his statement at the public prosecutor's office, Gürcan was referred to the Criminal Judgeship of Peace on Duty afterwards.

The judgeship has ruled that Gürcan shall be arrested on charge of "obtaining confidential information for purposes of political or military espionage." Metin Gürcan has been arrested and sent to jail.

He dismissed the allegations

As reported by BBC Türkçe, Gürcan said during his interrogation that he had met with the officials of foreign missions from time to time:

"In those meetings, I shared the tables and analysis that I prepared about the weekly developments in Turkey and Middle East countries. But I definitely do not accept the espionage charges. I did not share any confidential official information or document with any diplomat.

"Since 2019, I have been openly offering consultancy to people and institutions. They pay me in return. I compiled the developments in countries such as Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Libya from the sources that are open to the access of everyone."

What happened?

Academic Metin Gürcan, also one of the founders of the opposition DEVA Party, announced that he has been detained for "political espionage". A member of the DEVA's Founders' Committee, Metin Gürcan wrote on his social media account earlier in the morning on November 26:

"I am being detained on charge of political espionage. Police are at home, conducting a search... I am shocked. I want your support."

In a statement on his Twitter account later in the day, DEVA Party Vice Chair Mustafa Yeneroğlu stated that upon the warrant issued by the Bakırköy Criminal Judgeship of Peace, a search was conducted at Metin Gürcan's residence at around 5 am this morning.

According to the search warrant, Yeneroğlu said, Gürcan had been detained as part of an investigation launched by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in 2020. There were reportedly other people detained as part of the same investigation, Yeneroğlu added.

DEVA Party was founded in March 2020 and it is currently chaired by Ali Babacan, a former minister from the ruling AKP.

About Metin Gürcan

Retired soldier, academic, politician.

Born in Bilecik in 1976, he graduated from the Land Forces Academy as a Systems Engineer Infantry Lieutenant.

He worked in different units of the Turkish Armed Forces in 1998-2014. Following the end of his mandatory service, he voluntarily retired in 2015 in order to pursue his academic career. For eight years of his professional career, he was on various operational, liaison and training duties in Turkey's Southeast Anatolian region, Iraq, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

In 2008-2010, he did his Master's in Security Studies at the US Marine Forces Institute with a thesis on "center-periphery relations between the Kurdish Regional Government and Baghdad center."

He did his PhD at the Department of Political Science of Bilkent University in 2016; his thesis was on the Turkish Armed Forces' institutional capacity and will of change. It was published as a book in 2018: "Opening the Blackbox: Turkish Military Before and After July 15."

He was a guest researcher at the Solomon Asch Conflict Center/ Bryn Mawr College in 2009 and at the Oxford University Changing Character of War-CCW program in the years of 2014 and 2015.

He has 22 academic articles on the changing nature of conflict, terrorism, riots and resisting riots, civilian-military relations, foreign policy and military strategy published in national and international peer reviewed journals. He also periodically writes for various news websites.

He co-edited the book "The Gallipoli Campaign: The Turkish Perspective" with Prof. Robert Johnson from the University of Oxford; the book was published in April 2016. His book titled "What went wrong in Afghanistan?: Understanding Counterinsurgency in Tribalized, Rural, Muslim Environments" was also published in May 2016. (TP/SD)