Israeli-Turkish Citizen Detained in Turkey on Espionage Suspicion Recalls Harsh Interrogation
About six months after Islamist groups in Turkey launched a social media campaign targeting Israelis with dual citizenship and leaked his personal details, Matan, a 27-year-old former police volunteer from central Israel holding Turkish citizenship, visited Turkey for a family trip. Upon landing in Antalya, a local police officer warned him to conceal his Israeli identity due to extremists seeking to harm Israelis.
A few weeks later, at 4 a.m., eight plainclothes counterterrorism officers raided his family’s apartment and arrested him on suspicion of espionage and insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkish media published photos of him in uniform and posters labeling him wanted. Matan recounted that investigators accused him of collecting intelligence on Turkish police and soldiers for Israel, murdering Palestinians including women and infants, participating in genocide, and committing war crimes during a special forces raid on a Gaza flotilla.
He described solitary confinement and physical abuse, including a deliberate strike by an officer on sunburned areas of his body. After about 24 hours, a local judge ordered his release under restrictive conditions and imposed a travel ban. His family coordinated with local and Israeli lawyers and the Israeli Foreign Ministry, securing permission for his return to Israel after roughly six weeks. Matan told Asaf Vaknin from Mako, "We boarded the first flight home, and I screamed with joy. The investigation in Turkey is ongoing, and I don’t know how it will end, but I will never return there. Threats against me continue daily on social media, targeting me and my family, accusing me of being an Israeli spy."
