A man previously convicted of spying on Türkiye has been arrested by Turkish and Syrian authorities after more than a decade on the run, Turkish security sources said on Monday.
According to sources cited by Turkish state media, Önder Sigırcıkoğlu was detained at the Syria–Lebanon border in a joint operation by Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) and Syrian intelligence.
He has since been handed over to judicial authorities in the capital, Ankara.
A former high-ranking MİT agent, Sigırcıkoğlu now faces a range of criminal charges related to political and military espionage.
In 2011, while working within Türkiye’s security apparatus, Sigırcıkoğlu abducted two leaders of the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group supported by Ankara, and handed them over to the then-ruling government of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
One of the abducted men, Hussein Harmoush, reportedly died later in Syrian government custody.
In 2013, a Turkish court sentenced Sigırcıkoğlu to 20 years in prison for his role in the affair.
However, the following year, he escaped from a prison in Türkiye’s Osmaniye province, where he had been held.
Officials later claimed Sigırcıkoğlu was aided in his escape by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organisation (FETÖ), which Ankara designates as a terrorist group over its alleged role in the failed 2016 coup.
According to security sources, Sigırcıkoğlu then took refuge in Syria, where he was protected by the Assad government and tasked with conducting espionage activities against Türkiye.
Over the following years, MİT tracked his movements as he travelled between Syria, Lebanon and Russia.
Turkish officials believe Sigırcıkoğlu left Syria for neighbouring Lebanon, then travelled to Russia’s southern Krasnodar region before eventually returning to Lebanon via Egypt.
After receiving intelligence that he was planning to return to Syria, MİT, in coordination with Syrian intelligence, carried out Monday’s joint operation, leading to his capture.
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