German Official Adds to Mystery of Iranian Missing in Turkey - New York Times

German Official Adds to Mystery of Iranian Missing in Turkey - New York Times

March 14, 2007
German Official Adds to Mystery of Iranian Missing in Turkey
By SEBNEM ARSU

ISTANBUL, March 13 — More than a month after a former top official in Iran’s Defense Ministry disappeared in Turkey, a German official on Tuesday stirred up the controversy over whether he had defected with the collusion of the West.

On an official visit to Ankara, the German defense minister, Franz Josef Jung, was asked about the whereabouts of the former Iranian deputy defense minister, Ali Reza Asgari, and whether he was in Germany undergoing questioning. Mr. Jung merely replied: “I cannot say anything on this issue.”

He made the cryptic remark at a news conference with his Turkish counterpart, Vecdi Gonul, the Anatolian News Agency reported.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said last week that the Turkish intelligence service was investigating the matter.

A Foreign Ministry official said Iranian officials had contacted the ministry through Interpol three weeks after Mr. Asgari’s entry into Turkey in early February to ask for information.

But the official, who declined to be identified because of diplomatic protocol, was not optimistic about finding him, saying, “Every year millions of Iranians enter Turkey, so it’s impossible to keep personal records.”

The official said accounts in the news media should be viewed “as pure speculation before our collective and comprehensive investigation is finalized.” He was referring to coverage in the mainstream newspaper Hurriyet that said Mr. Asgari arrived at the Istanbul airport on Feb. 7 after moving his family to safety in Damascus, Syria. The newspaper said he was given a passport under a new name, enabling him to flee Turkey over land.

Iranian officials, meanwhile, have said Mr. Asgari had been kidnapped, possibly by the West.

The head of Iran’s Security Forces, Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, said that Mr. Asgari arrived in Istanbul from Damascus but that he disappeared after three days, according to the ILNA news agency.

“It is possible that Western intelligence services have kidnapped him because of his background in the Defense Ministry,” Mr. Moghadam said Tuesday.

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, has denied reports that Mr. Asgari had defected to a Western country.

Members of Mr. Asgari’s family, who are now in Tehran, met with journalists this week. Ziba Ahmadi, Mr. Asgari’s wife, denied that her husband “would ever” ask for asylum in the West. She also said he had disappeared in December, which The Financial Times said was consistent with reporting it conducted in Tehran on Sunday with a former senior official and friend of Mr. Asgari.

“Personally I am sure that Iran’s main enemies, America and Israel, have kidnapped my father,” Mr. Asgari’s daughter Elham told state radio. “As a loyal servant of the revolution, my father had many enemies.”

Nazila Fathi contributed reporting from Tehran.