Emre Taner (born 1942,

Lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

) is a Turkish civil servant who was until May 2010 the undersecretary (i.e. chief) of the governmental intelligence agency of Turkey, the

National Intelligence Organization The National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) is the state intelligence agency of Turkey. Established in 1965 to replace National Security Service, its aim is to gather information about the current and po ...

( tr, Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT).

Career

After graduating from the School of Political Science at

Ankara University Ankara University ( tr, Ankara Üniversitesi) is a public university in Ankara, the capital city of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the formation of the republic in 1923. The university has 40 vocat ...

, he entered the intelligence agency in 1967 and served almost in all the sections of the organization. Between 1984 and 1986, Emre Taner was the chief of

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

region bureau. In 1987, he became the head of intelligence department, and was appointed Deputy Undersecretary of MİT in 1992. From 1994 on, Emre Taner served in foreign countries until his appointment to Deputy Undersecretary for Operations on April 7, 1999. Emre Taner succeeded

Şenkal Atasagun Şenkal Atasagun (born 1941, Kars) is a former Turkish civil servant. He was head of the National Intelligence Organization ( tr, Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT) from 1998 to 2005. Atasagun joined MIT in 1967 after graduating from Galatas ...

, who retired on June 15, 2005 from his post before his term of office. Taner announced a restructuring of the MİT at the start of 2009. On May 26, 2010, Taner passed the post on to his successor

Hakan Fidan Hakan Fidan (born 1968) is a retired Turkish army sergeant major, educator, diplomat and the Head of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization. Career After a first degree in management and political sciences at University of Maryland Univers ...

Head of the National Intelligence Organization

He is known for rejuvenating the organization, and encouraging the government to adopt a more active stance with regard to foreign policy. Besides he is credited with reducing the

turf war A turf war is a fight over territory or resources, or may refer to: Music * ''Turf Wars'', a 2007 album by the Canadian band Daggermouth * "Turf War", a song on the 2001 album ''Filmtracks 2000'' by American composer Bill Television * ''Turf Wa ...

between the MİT and the General Directorate of Security as well as infighting inside the MİT itself. Between 2008 and 2009 he was involved in the

peace negotiations A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surre ...

with members of the outlawed

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK) which took place in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and Kurdish leaders in Iraq. Due to this peace talks with the PKK he and his successor Fidan were summoned in testify by prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya in early February 2012. Sarikaya was arrested the same month and the law concerning investigations on the MIT was changed in way that the prime ministers consent was mandatory. The warrant on him was removed on the 18 February 2012.

Personal life

He was born 1942 in

. He is married.

References

1942 births Living people People from Lice, Turkey Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences alumni People of the National Intelligence Organization (Turkey) Directors of intelligence agencies {{Turkey-politician-stub