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On July 25, 2025 – Turkey –
A classified memo dated June 18, 2025, from Turkey’s Security General Directorate (Emniyet) reveals clandestine efforts to circumvent INTERPOL’s political screening protocols to issue a Red Notice against Levent Kenez, a Turkish journalist now residing in exile in Stockholm. Currently, the editor of Nordic Monitor, Kenez, fled Turkey in 2016 amid politically motivated charges that have repeatedly been rejected by INTERPOL as impermissible under its charter.
Signed by İskender Güray Keskin, deputy head of the Interpol‑Europol Department, the memo was widely circulated across Turkey’s intelligence, justice ministry, and several chief prosecutors’ offices. It instructs officials to omit any reference to terrorism or Gülen‑affiliation in extradition requests, focusing instead on seemingly lesser infractions—such as “illegally obtaining or disseminating personal data”—that are more likely to bypass INTERPOL’s refusal of politically motivated cases.
The document explicitly recommends that authorities emphasize these alternative charges in Kenez’s case to enhance the likelihood of INTERPOL acceptance. In practice, this would mask the true political intent behind the request and avoid triggering the organization’s screening mechanisms.
Turkey has filed large numbers of such requests. Since 2014, roughly 750,000 individuals have faced prosecution for alleged links to the Gülen movement—a group deemed terrorist by Ankara but not recognized as such in democratic countries. According to Sweden’s Supreme Court, Turkey’s extradition attempt for Kenez had already been declined, citing that the charges carried would not constitute crimes under Swedish law and posed a clear risk of political persecution.
This strategy demonstrates a deliberate attempt to weaponize legal definitions and repackage political cases to leverage INTERPOL’s system. It exemplifies broader concerns over transnational repression and misuse of international law enforcement tools to intimidate dissidents abroad.
In summary, the memo exposes Ankara’s methodical effort to manipulate international mechanisms by downplaying politically sensitive allegations and focusing on more plausible technical offenses—thereby creating a veneer of legitimacy for targeting an exiled journalist critical of President Erdoğan’s administration.
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