Vienna favorites: “Turkish spy” according to experts, “not a real spy”

Secret service expert Thomas Riegler was not very surprised by the arrest of an alleged Turkish spy in Austria, but at the same time he made her role down. The person “was not a real spy, but an informant,” he explained in the APA interview on Wednesday.

“It is an old law in espionage to persuade people to cooperate under pressure,” the expert said, referring to information that the suspected spy was previously in prison in Turkey. When asked about the size of the Turkish informant network in Austria, Riegler referred to earlier estimates by then-National Council member Peter Pilz that there were “at least 200 informants”. This is “the largest network after the Russians,” Riegler said.

Riegler noted that after the failed coup attempt in 2016, Turkey “stepped up its efforts across Europe.” There have been assassinations in France and diplomats in Switzerland have been expelled for a kidnapping scheme. In addition, several Austrian states “have an interest in spying on the diaspora,” Riegler specifically referred to Iran and Chechnya.

“What is special about Austria is the political component,” Riegler said, referring to the heated political debate over Turkey in this country. After the riots in Vienna-Favoriten and the accusations that they were controlled from outside, the authorities “had to comply.” The filming of demos has been a “common practice” for a long time. In the Favoriten riots, one person was noticed. “Search pressure leads to someone getting caught in the net.”

Riegler placed the case in a broader context of foreign intelligence activities in the country. Referring to the recent expulsion of a Russian diplomat, Riegler stressed that it was “archery” and “a warning sign that we cannot afford everything.” In the past, Austria “used to look the other way” and “let it go,” Riegler said. They had an interest in keeping Austria as an international meeting place. “If you act with too much repression, you ruin the meeting place.”

However, in recent years, more and more countries have crossed red lines and violated Austrian hospitality, Riegler said. In this regard, he referred to the arrest of an Iranian diplomat accused of terrorism and the recent murder of a Chechen critic of the regime near Vienna.

In the case of Turkey, the Turkish community is increasingly becoming “part of Austria” and “security in Austria is increasingly at risk” from these conflicts. Therefore, it is no longer possible to look away. Furthermore, you can only win with a tough approach “on the domestic political front,” Riegler said in the direction of the ÖVP-led federal government.

According to extremism expert Thomas Rammerstorfer, Austrian security authorities are investigating “against several dozen” people for espionage in Turkey. In an APA interview on Wednesday, Rammerstorfer praised the constitution’s protection work, but at the same time criticized the “political marketing” of the cause before the Vienna elections, which he called “very doubtful.”

“We have exactly the same problems in Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Upper Austria as in Vienna,” criticized the publicist and green politician from Upper Austria “the attempts to delegate this whole issue to Vienna.” In fact, neither the SPÖ, the ÖVP nor the FPÖ, but “not even the Greens, my party” had become famous in this matter. “Everyone should remove their nose,” Rammerstorfer said.

The local Wels politician confirmed that there were also “concrete suspicions” of espionage in Upper Austria. Rammerstorfer declined to comment on suspicions that the spy unmasked by the authorities also came from Upper Austria. “I know there is an investigation in Upper Austria,” he said simply. But it assumes that there will also be investigations in other federal states.

Turkish community espionage activity in Austria has been “an open secret for many years,” said Rammerstofer, who has done extensive research on far-right gray wolves, among other things. “What is a bit new is the method of targeting people who have been detained.”

Rammerstorfer noted that the lines between spies and informants are blurring. There are people who lobby for the AKP and the Gray Wolves and are in contact with diplomats. Then there are also the “active citizens” who would use an app to report critical government posts on social media.

Information collected in Austria would also lead to arrests in Turkey. “Of the people who have been incarcerated in the last three or four years, many are those who were told during interrogations: ‘We have information from Wels, Linz, etc.,'” Rammerstorfer reported.

Therefore, many opposition Turks “would only go to Turkey in an emergency,” the extremism researcher said. This “fear” is also one of the reasons why the government camp gets so many votes in elections among Turks abroad in Austria. Polling stations are located in the Turkish consulates, and these are “enemy territory” for Turks who are critical of the regime.

Rammerstorfer praised the work of the police authorities. The Office for the Protection of the Constitution has “learned a lot” in recent years and works “professionally”, “carefully” and “de-escalation”.

The expert still sees room for improvement when it comes to dealing with Austrians who have fallen into the clutches of the Turkish judiciary. Specifically, he referred to consular support, but also to “automatic reporting” in Austria after the Turkish terrorist proceedings, as in the case of Max Zirngast from Styria. “That is not something that builds confidence in the authorities,” Rammerstorfer said, referring to the fact that many Turks and people of Turkish origin “see local authorities only as judicial authorities.”

The authorities should also try to “preemptively establish a relationship of trust with the democratic people in Turkey,” he said, referring to reports that the suspected spy in Turkish custody had made a deal with the authorities.