Detained secretly in Turkey for 40 days accused of spying for Greece
Mohamed Amar Abara is a 67-year-old naturalised Greek citizen from Syria. He is the father of four children and has lived in Greece since 1987. At some stage, he went to Turkey on business and vanished and his family were desperately trying to find out what happened to him.
About 40 days later, they were utterly shocked and surprised to hear from the Turkish media that he was being held in Turkey, accused of “spying for Greece” and, also, for people settled in Greece that have links with the “Fetullah Terrorist Organisation”.
In fact, he was abducted in the street by men in civilian clothes, presumably members of the Turkish intelligence service (MIT), and was detained secretly and illegally for about 40 days. He is still in detention and his family maintain that he is absolutely innocent.
Türkiye’s National Intelligence Service (MIT) has arrested a Greek citizen on suspicion of spying for Greece, Demirören, a Turkish News Agency reported.
Mohamed Amar Abara, who was arrested in Türkiye, was questioned by the counterintelligence service, the agency said.
Abara pretended to be a businessman during his trips to Türkiye, Turkish security sources said.
According to the report, it is believed that he was gathering information about the Turkish armed forces at the border and transferred it to the Greek intelligence services.
The case is being closely monitored by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Greek press reports “the arrest adds to the climate of tension cultivated by Türkiye. The same sources say that “Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month he would no longer hold bilateral meetings with Greek leaders, as stipulated in the 2010 agreement between the two sides”.
Last month, Erdogan stressed that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis “no longer exists” for him, accusing the Greek leader of trying to block the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Türkiye during a visit to the United States.
As reported by Yeni Şafak
Regarding the same case, the Turkish newspaper Yeni Şafak reports on its website:
The Turkish intelligence agency on Saturday “caught” a Greek national who allegedly was “spying on the country on behalf of the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP)”.
As a result of their investigations, members of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) claim that they “uncovered that the EYP was working with Greek citizen Muhammed Amar Ampara for espionage against Türkiye”.
They said that “Ampara was posing as a businessman during his travels in Türkiye in an attempt to gather information on Turkish military deployments on the border and send it back to Athens”.
Allegedly, “he was also conducting research into Syrians in Türkiye, as well as businessmen settled in Greece that support the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO)”.
Yeni Şafak reminds its readers that “FETO orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, in Türkiye, in which 251 people were killed and 2,734 injured”.
Human rights circles in London point out that alleged “cooperation” with the so-called “FETO” is the stereotypical charge for the arrests of thousands of innocent people under Mr Erdogan’s oppressive regime.
Arrested or abducted?
According to the latest report by the news site JNews (www.fourals.com), this is what happened:
“He was traveling to Turkey for work and was suddenly found in the Ankara detention centre on charges of spying. A Greek citizen of Syrian origin, who was handcuffed by the Turks with a provocative action and became the first topic in all Turkish media”.
“He is being held for espionage and we do not even know such a thing, that is, my father has nothing to do with such things,” his son Abdul told MEGA TV Greece.
Mohamed Amar Abara, a carpet trader, had travelled to Turkey 40 days ago to visit a carpet exhibition together with a colleague to conclude trade deals in the south-eastern Anatolian city of Gaziantep”.
After that, his family didn’t know where he was. Abdul spoke to MEGA and unwrapped the “midnight express” of his 67-year-old father.
On Wednesday, May 18, at nine o’clock, they were abducted by men in civilian clothes. He was with his colleague. They took both. They said they were police officers, but they were in civilian clothes.
“They were seized in the street. They were walking outside the hotel, and they grabbed them from there,” his son said.
A little while later, the Turkish authorities, after checking their documents, released his colleague, but not the 67-year-old. His colleague then informed the family of Mohamed Ambara in Greece as to his whereabouts.
Asked if he contacted his father since then, he replied: “Not at all. We talked to the police that night and the next day we talked to the embassy. At first, we were told that it was not the police who took him, it was a kidnapping and that they would ask for a ransom. Nobody asked us for a ransom”.
Finally, Abdul was utterly shocked to be informed by Turkish media that his father was arrested by the Turkish secret services for allegedly being “a spy”.
Mohamed Amar Ambara has lived in Greece since 1987, initially as a marble merchant. Later he expanded his activities by importing carpets. He is the father of four children and had gone to Turkey for a few days because of his job.
“The Turkish authorities are trying to create a problem here with Greece and it is not at all right to involve an innocent man. That’s what happened. He is an innocent man. He is only interested in his job “.
The anguish for the family of Mohamed Abara has been going on for forty days. His relatives are convinced that this is a purely a case of provocative action on the part of Türkiye.
