Turkey: detained Israelis ‘committed military and political espionage’

Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu said on Tuesday that the two Israelis detained in Turkey last week “committed a crime of military and political espionage.” The husband and wife were detained by the Turkish police after they were reported for taking photos of the presidential palace in Istanbul.

“They did not just photograph the house,” Cumhuriyet reported Soylu as saying. “They focused on it and even marked it.” He added that the prosecutor’s office believes that they are guilty of espionage, but the courts will judge on the matter.

Soylu is the first Turkish official to comment officially on the issue since the two Israelis, identified as Natali and Mordy Oknin, were detained last Monday. According to Anadolu, a waitress saw them taking pictures of Erdogan’s residence from the Camlica Tower restaurant in Istanbul.

READ: Israeli couple detained in Turkey in ‘complex situation’

Investigators, said Anadolu, found that the two Israelis attached technical details and measurements to the photographs and sent them to people in Israel through “The Family” WhatsApp group.

They also included information about the number of security personnel and detailed information about Camlica Tower, the telecommunications building which is the tallest in Europe.