When World War II began, Turkey initially tried to remain neutral. The powerful Nazis, who were strong at the beginning, and their allies sought to bring Turkey to their side. In the second half of the war, as the Germans began to face defeat, Britain and the allied powers made significant efforts to involve Turkey in the war. Thanks to the foreign policy pursued by the Republic of Turkey, it managed to shield itself from the devastating effects of World War II. However, in Ankara, incredible events that changed the course of the world and the war were unfolding around a spy case.
Çiçero: Who is Ilyas Bazna?
Ilyas Bazna, originally Albanian (his name in Albanian is Elyesa Bazna), was born in 1904 in Pristina, and at the age of 14, he and his family moved to Istanbul after the Serbian occupation of Pristina in 1918. In his youth, he went to France and spent some time in prison for bicycle theft. Later, when he returned to Turkey, Ilyas Bazna (Elyesa Bazna) began working at the German embassy in Ankara.
While working at the German embassy, World War II started. Bazna had a curious nature. At that time, the famous Nazi ambassador Franz von Papen served in Turkey. When Bazna was caught reading the embassy's letters, he was expelled from the German embassy.
In 1942, Elyesa Bazna applied for a valet position at the British embassy in Ankara and was hired. Strangely enough, even though Elyasa Bazna had previously served time in prison in France and worked at the German Embassy, he passed the security clearance conducted on him. Most likely, he hadn't disclosed these facts, and the British didn't investigate thoroughly enough, so at that time, Bazna was not engaged in any espionage and received no instructions from anyone.
Bay Bazna, who began serving as the personal valet to Sir Hudge Knatchbull Hugessen, the British Ambassador in Ankara, became very close to him. He played the piano for him and attended to his needs. The ambassador began to trust him and was very pleased with his service. One night in 1943, the curious valet, while the ambassador was sleeping in his room, quietly entered and took photographs of the secret documents from the ambassador's bag. Initially, Bazna did this as an individual act. He believed he would become very rich, and for this, he met with Undersecretary Albert Jenke from the German embassy where he had previously worked. Jenke could hardly believe the information on the film rolls because they were very confidential and valuable. Bazna, however, wanted something simple. In exchange for the film roll containing these valuable information, he asked for 20,000 British pounds. The money was immediately given to Bezna. The Nazis now had very valuable secrets belonging to their enemies. From the list of weapons that the USSR, which was continuously fighting against the Nazis, wanted from the allied forces, to the list of British spies in Turkey and the secret negotiations between Turkey and Britain, many highly confidential documents were now in the hands of the valet Bazna.
The Nazis gave Elyesa Bazna, also known as Cicero, a new camera and film rolls, along with the code name Cicero. Cicero would receive 15,000 pounds for each new roll he brought. Cicero regularly took photographs of the documents from the ambassador's secret safe and bag and received his payment. The British Ambassador in Ankara, Sir Hudge Knatchbull Hugessen, never suspected the respectful and diligent valet Elyesa (Ilyas) Bazna. Cicero continued to sell information to the Germans and asked for more money, knowing the value of the information he provided.
German Ambassador Von Papen, in the report he sent to Berlin, stated that they had run out of money to give to Cicero and requested new information for payment. The Nazi government promptly granted the request because Cicero was of great value to them. Therefore, the pounds were sent to Turkey, and Cicero received his payment. Interestingly, the pounds that came from Germany were brand new, as if they had just been minted. This did not arouse suspicion in Cicero. It later emerged that during World War II, the Nazis had started printing fake pounds in Germany to sabotage the British economy and devalue the pound. The money paid to Cicero was counterfeit. However, Elyesa Bazna, unaware of this, continued to leak information from the British embassy and began to grow rich.
No one paid attention when a valet working at the embassy bought a new car, wore stylish clothes, and rented a new house for his girlfriend in Ankara. The British officials assumed he didn't speak English, and they described him as a simple and uneducated person.
However, the Germans suspected whether Bazna's valuable information was actually a trap, that the British were "baiting" them. To test the accuracy of the information, they deliberately concealed the information about an imminent Allied bombardment in Sofia. As a result of the Sofia bombing, approximately four thousand people died. After this incident, the Nazi military wing believed that Cicero's documents were accurate.
However, the British realized that information was being leaked from the embassy but could not find out who was doing it. Despite interrogating all embassy staff, they still couldn't identify the spy.
German Ambassador Papen informed Berlin in his message that they had run out of money to give to Cicero and requested more funds for new information. The Nazi regime quickly complied because Cicero was instrumental to them. This is why sterling was sent to Turkey, and Cicero was paid. However, it is interesting to note that the sterling received from Germany was brand new, as if freshly minted. This did not arouse suspicion in Cicero. It later emerged that during World War II, the Nazis had started printing fake pounds in Germany to sabotage the British economy and devalue the pound. The money paid to Cicero was counterfeit. However, Elyesa Bazna, unaware of this, continued to leak information from the British embassy and began to grow rich.
As World War II continued in full force in 1944, Bazna reported that the United States was preparing to use its massive military force to destroy Germany. Von Papen believed that in light of this information, the Nazi government needed to make an agreement with the U.S. to protect Germany from destruction. However, due to internal disputes within the Nazi military, as well as the appearance of another hand in a photograph sent by Ilyas Bezna, they began to suspect that he was a double agent working for the British, and therefore, they did not take his intelligence about the formidable Allied forces in Western Europe seriously and dismissed it as a fabrication. However, the awaited reality would be a bitter end for Germany.
This is because in the documents sent by Cicero, later known to be Bazna, which were ignored and not taken seriously by the Germans, were the initial details of the Normandy landings that would incapacitate Germany. The Normandy landings, carried out with a surprise attack in a different location than the one anticipated by the Nazis, could not be prevented by Hitler and the Nazis. If the Nazis had taken Bazna's information about the Normandy landings into account, perhaps the course of
the war could have been different. The leaking of the initial information about the Normandy landings, meticulously prepared and heavily guarded by the Allies, by Elyesa Bazna, also known as Cicero, is considered one of the most important events in the history of espionage. Because even the soldiers participating in the landings were not informed until the last moment, and the Nazis were caught off guard.
Eventually, fearing that someone in the German embassy who knew Bazna might seek refuge with the Americans, Bazna, alias Cicero, resigned from his position at the British embassy. He had nearly 300,000 pounds, and no one suspected him. World War II had ended, and Germany was defeated. Although Bazna was taken into custody by the Turkish police, he was still not exposed.
Ilyas Bazna moved to Istanbul, got married, and had three children. With the money he had, he started various businesses. Finally, he decided to build a tourist hotel in Uludağ. However, Bazna was in for a big surprise. The police raided his office, and it was revealed that the sterling he used was counterfeit. Bazna had been lured into a trap by the Nazis and was now a former spy without money.
In 1950, when an ex-Gestapo chief of the Nazis began recounting his memoirs related to the information obtained from Bazna, codenamed Cicero, the incident came to light, and the real story of Cicero made headlines worldwide. The British government even conducted an investigation into this extensive espionage operation. Although Bazna sued the Federal Republic of Germany for giving him counterfeit money and tried to recover his losses, he received a very small amount of compensation. Later, when Elyasa Banza was allowed to settle in Germany, he died in Munich at the age of 66, working as a night watchman.
Elyesa Bazna, the Albanian-Turkish agent codenamed Cicero, carried out one of the most significant and popular espionage activities of the last century, despite having received no formal espionage training. In fact, in a book written within the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT), it is stated that Ilyas Bazna was an employee of the MİT.
Elyesa Bazna, also known as Cicero, has been featured in popular culture. In addition to the book "I was Cicero" that tells the story of Bazna's life, a Hollywood film titled "Five Fingers" was made in 1951. Although Elyesa Bazna wanted to play himself in the film, he was not accepted.
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