Intelligence ties between Turkey and the United States run deep. Turkey’s National Intelligence Office (MIT) and the CIA have long cooperated. Earlier in her career CIA director Gina Haspel served in Turkey and she traveled to Turkey in 2018 to review MIT’s intelligence on the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
But Turkey’s October 2019 attack on Kurdish forces in Syria allied with the United States have prompted to U.S. to cut back on one joint intelligence program.
From Reuters
The U.S. officials, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States late last year stopped flying the intelligence collection missions that targeted the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which both the United States and Turkey classify as terrorists. The U.S. military had carried out the missions using unarmed drone aircraft, which one official said were flown out of Turkey’s Incirlik air base, where the U.S. military has a significant presence. The base is also a key hub for U.S. spy agencies operating in the region.
Source: Exclusive: U.S. halts secretive drone programme with Turkey over Syria incursion – Reuters
