Abdullah Bozkurt/Stockholm

A former bodyguard to the Turkish president, who has been indicted in the United States and was involved in covert operations in Libya, has been appointed as an adviser at the Turkish embassy in Switzerland. There, federal prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for two embassy employees on criminal charges.

According to Turkish media reports, which cited a recent appointment list of the General Directorate of Security (Emniyet) dated July 19, Mustafa Murat Sümercan, police chief and former member of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security unit, has been appointed as the new adviser to the Ministry of Interior at the Turkish Embassy in Bern.

The position assigned to Sümercan was created in 2017 by the Erdogan government to strengthen Turkey’s intelligence services abroad, particularly through the Directorate of Intelligence, a part of the General Directorate of Security.

Operatives assigned to such roles work under the titles of Interior Affairs Advisors (İçişleri Müşaviri) at embassies and Interior Affairs Attachés (İçişleri Ataşesi) at consulates. They also supervise police officers assigned to their respective missions. Nordic Monitor has published multiple reports revealing classified intelligence reports sent by these advisors and attachés.

Sümercan’s track record illustrates the goals the Erdogan government wanted to achieve with such an appointment in Switzerland.

In 2011, Sümercan took part in covert operations as a security officer of the embassy in Tripoli, working with the Turkish intelligence service MIT (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı) to establish links with armed jihadist groups. He later joined Erdogan’s protective unit and became a bodyguard to the Turkish president.

US charges Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s bodyguards:

Indictment_Erdogan’s_Bodyguards_2017

He was charged and faced an arrest warrant issued by US authorities for his involvement in the attack on protesters outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in Washington, DC in May 2017.

On July 17, 2017, he was indicted by a grand jury in the District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury, and simple assault or battery in a threatening manner.

Protesters protesting against the policies of President Erdogan, who was visiting Washington to meet Donald Trump at the White House, were attacked by agitated supporters of the Turkish head of state and then attacked by the Turkish president’s bodyguards, as footage of the incident shows.

Another video shows Erdogan ordering his security forces to attack the protesters and watching what happens outside the ambassador’s residence on Sheridan Circle.

According to the indictment, Sümercan, in front of protesters who were holding a rally sanctioned by the U.S. National Park Service, made a throat-slitting motion by moving his hand horizontally across his throat with his palm facing down. He and several others then pushed through a security cordon set up by officers from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and began beating the protesters. He was identified as the person who attacked Heewa Arya, an anti-Erdogan protester, by kicking him as he lay on the ground.

Mustafa Murat Sümercan, police chief and former member of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security unit:

Mustafa Murat Sumercan

He and others ignored orders from MPD and U.S. Secret Service agents to stop the attack on the anti-Erdogan protesters and return to the sidewalk in front of the home. Video footage of the incident clearly shows him on the front lines, kicking and punching a protester who was lying bleeding on the sidewalk of a Washington, D.C. street.

The attack sparked outrage in the U.S. House of Representatives, which condemned Turkey for attempting to export its violence and intolerance to American soil. On June 7, 2017, a resolution calling for the prosecution of those involved in the attack was passed unanimously (397 to 0).

The unanimous resolution passed by the US House of Representatives condemning Turkey for the attack on protesters in Washington, DC:

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But in a bizarre twist, U.S. federal prosecutors dropped charges against him and six others on February 14, 2018, just one day before then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson traveled to Turkey. As a result, only four of Erdogan’s 15 bodyguards face arrest warrants.

Sümercan’s involvement in a 2016 coup attempt, widely seen as a false flag intelligence operation intended to justify a mass purge of the Turkish military, was also documented in court filings. Court documents revealed that he called several officials, including prosecutors and police chiefs, to order the arrest of senior military officers in Antalya, despite not having the jurisdiction or mandate to do so.

He will work under diplomatic immunity in Switzerland, where two Turkish diplomats – then-press officer Hacı Mehmet Gani and Hakan Kamil Yerge, then second secretary at the Turkish embassy in Bern – were involved in a 2016 plot to drug and kidnap a Swiss-Turkish businessman.

In June 2018, the Swiss Attorney General’s Office issued arrest warrants for the two Turkish diplomats and confirmed that they would be arrested upon their arrival in Switzerland. According to local reports, criminal proceedings were initiated against the two diplomats in March 2017. Yerge left Switzerland in November 2016, while Gani stayed until August 2017.

The Turkish diplomats were specifically accused of gathering political intelligence for another state and attempting to kidnap a Swiss businessman of Turkish origin. The businessman, who reportedly had ties to the Gülen movement and had lived in Switzerland for about 30 years, was a vocal critic of Erdogan’s policies. The Gülen movement has been vocal against various aspects of Erdogan’s government, including allegations of widespread corruption and Turkey’s support for armed jihadist groups in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

Sümercan’s wife, Elif Uzun Sümercan, was identified as one of Turkey’s most notorious torturers, who abused and mistreated high-ranking generals who were illegally held in an unofficial detention facility in Ankara in 2016. Several victims testified in court, naming her as one of the top police officers involved in brutal torture sessions that lasted for days. At the time, she was deputy head of the Ankara police’s counterterrorism unit. She was rewarded by Erdogan, who appointed her as head of department at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.