[[Image:Sabah 20081126 01 crop.jpg|thumb|Sabahs front page for 26 November 2008.]]Tuncay Güney (; born 25 August 1972 in Kargı), code name "Ipek" (silk), is a Turkish citizen of Dönmeh Jewish origin who claims to have infiltrated the Turkish Gendarmerie's intelligence organization JITEM, Ergenekon, the Workers' Party, and the Gülen movement before being outed. He is subordinate to Mehmet Eymür, who was discharged from the National Intelligence Organization (, MİT). The information Güney has gleaned on these organizations make him a key figure in the ongoing Ergenekon investigation. His statements form the backbone of the 2455-page Ergenekon indictment, which mentions him 492 times and labels him a suspect at large ().
Background and personal life
Güney was born in the village of Gölet, Kargı, to Ali and Ayşe Güney; the youngest of three siblings. Güney says his family, whose roots can be traced to Egypt, was outcast by his community for being Sabbatean Jews. Less than a year after his birth, they left for the Harmantepe neighborhood of Gültepe, İstanbul.
In his spare time, his mother teaches the Quran to her neighbors' children in Gültepe. Güney says it was normal for Dönmeh crypto-Jews to express their devoutness to Islam, such as by sending their children to seminaries, in order to be accepted. His mother says "If my son said we are Jewish, we are Jewish."
His father was nominally a technician for the Beşiktaş School of Applied Fine Arts. According to Güney, this job was a cover for his work as a spy for the MİT, which used the school as training ground. Güney names Mehmet Eymür, the director of its defunct Counter-Terrorism Department, as one of his father's associates. His father started receiving his pension on 7 March 1982, and died on 13 February 1986. His father's funeral was attended by many men in uniforms. One of them was Eymür, who told his mother that they could contact MİT for support. Eymür later denied Güney's allegations that his father worked for the MİT.
When Güney was twelve, a friend of his family called Mithat Ulusoy took Güney to a boarding Islamic seminary () of the Süleymancı sect, in Ayazağa. Güney says that the founders of the seminary are also Sabbateans. The manager of the Ayazağa student dormitory, Halil Atam, remembers Güney as a hard-working and peaceful student. Around the same time, while attending secondary school (), Güney met the Welfare Party's mayor of Kağıthane, Arif Calban. Calban remembers Güney as a "good, bright kid". He allegedly dropped out of Pertevniyal high school after the first year (1986), however the headmaster, Aziz Yeniyol, has no record of Güney. Güney counters that he spent more time attending Tarabya Kemal Atatürk high school of Bedrettin Dalan's İstek Foundation.
Males in Turkey are mandated to do conscripted military service for the Turkish Armed Forces. Güney went to the army in Ardahan on 5 May 1997, but was discharged four months later after receiving an exemption for allegedly being homosexual. Güney said he was bored of the army, so he used his connections to get an exemption report from a psychiatrist at Ankara GATA. However, he denies that the report said he was homosexual. Rather, he says he helped many homosexuals obtain exemptions.
Güney currently lives in Toronto, Canada.
Marriages
On 28 September 1993 he married Nuray Güney, whom he had met through a mutual acquaintance in Germany. The couple divorced on 9 December 1994, after his wife complained that he continually asked for money.
After returning from the military in 1998, Güney married Rabia Taşdemir; the sister of his brother-in-law Adem (through his sister, Keziban). This marriage lasted for two years.
Journalism career
Güney's employment records start on 1 May 1988. He has assumed a variety of jobs, mostly in journalism, to cover his actual profession of espionage. At the time he was exfiltrated to the United States, he was receiving a government pension. Since he is too young (29) to have retired, this has been adduced as proof of covert payment from the government. His file from the Social Security Administration () was classified during the investigation.