Turkey’s intel agency tries to determine IDs of 30,000 ByLock users

Fevzi Kızılkoyun – ANKARA

Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) is attempting to determine the identities of some 30,000 users of the smartphone application ByLock, which came to prominence after it emerged that followers of U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen used the program. 

According to MİT, a total of 230,000 ByLock accounts have been found, of which 15,000 are duplicates. 

MİT has sent the identities of around 185,000 ByLock users to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Department of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime. Authorities are now attempting to determine whether 30,000 unidentified ByLock users are the cryptographic members of the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), widely believed to have masterminded the July 15, 2016, failed coup.

Police have opened a search engine for colleagues in 81 provinces to check whether a suspected name is on the ByLock users list. In addition, the police will be able to determine if a suspected person is using ByLock through a General Information Scanning (GBT) check.