Bir İstihbarat Savaşı: Çiçero Olayı

Abstract

While the Second World War was going on at all the fronts and battlefields, the common effort of both blocks was to drag Turkey into this war and to make her an ally of them. Although Turkey has not actively participated in the war, Ankara, the capital of the country has turned into an important center, where all information related to military operations has flown and has been transformed into intelligence. It may not be easy for us to grasp the importance of the previous human based intelligence activities when we consider the present day facilities. Notwithstanding, in those days, the human factor was far more important. In this context, the names of many people who served their countries can be counted. Of course, some of them are unfamiliar for us. The subject matter of this article will constitute such a personality, namely an Albenian spy, Elyesa Bazna, who worked for the British Embassy in Ankara as a kavas (the doorkeeper) between October 1943 and April 1944. Elyesa Bazna sold the documents he obtained from the British Embassy to the German Embassy for money. This article aims to draw attention to his influence to the course of the Second World War events and the importance of the espionage activities of the period.