Turkey Spy Chief Survives Despite Erdogan Criticism... For Now

Mohammad Ali (@ChaudhryMAli88) Published July 23, 2016 | 03:47 PM

ANKARA, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd july,2016) - Turkey's powerful spy chief Hakan Fidan is to stay on in his job after presiding over an intelligence failure that allowed the botched coup, but his position is under review, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in an interview broadcast Saturday. There has been intense speculation over the future of Fidan, head of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) and widely seen as one of the most powerful men in the country, after Erdogan publicly rebuked him for failing to see the putsch coming.

Erdogan late on Friday held a two-hour meeting with Fidan at the presidential palace but there was no statement afterwards that Turkey's top spy was to go. "No, he did not offer his resignation.

We did not discuss this," Erdogan said in an interview with France 24 television. Following reports that MIT had intelligence of the coup hours beforehand but did not warn Erdogan, the president admitted there had been an intelligence failure.