Victims prepare to take legal action over illegal wiretapping scandal

Among the individuals whose phones were allegedly wiretapped were academics Baskın Oran and Doğu Ergil; former minister Fikri Sağlar; actor Kenan Işık; Equality and Democracy Party (EDP) leader Ziya Halis; Kurdish intellectual and author Orhan Miroğlu; Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputies Sırrı Sakık and Sabahat Tuncel; and former Democracy Party (DEP) deputy Leyla Zana. Miroğlu is one of the individuals who are preparing to file a criminal complaint against those involved in the alleged wiretapping.

He says it is a scandal that dozens of intellectuals and authors were wiretapped under the guise of monitoring terrorists “The common point of those whose phones were wiretapped is that they took the side of peace. They were wiretapped as if they were PKK members. This cannot be explained in any way. Who has the right to wiretap Baskın Oran and Fikri Sağlar? I will soon file a criminal complaint. The government should not remain indifferent on this issue,” Miroğlu stressed.

According to Taraf, Gen. Güner, who was at the helm of the General Staff’s intelligence department in 2007, wiretapped nearly 2,000 civilians with a wiretapping system purchased for the General Staff’s Electronic Systems Command (GES). However, according to a law that was passed in 2005, the tapping of telephones was put under the authority of three institutions: the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the National Police Department and the gendarmerie. A court decision is needed even for those institutions to wiretap a phone. When a court decision is issued for the wiretapping of a phone, it needs to be approved by the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB). Thus, the GES does not have any legal authority to wiretap phones in Turkey.

Oran has also begun working with his lawyer to take legal action on the claims. Noting that he will strive to the end to settle accounts with those who illegally abused their authority, Oran said: “We are determining whether we will file a complaint against the state or against those who committed the crime. I have previously filed many lawsuits although I knew I would lose them. This was not because I have much time and money. I did it in order not to surrender to injustice.”

BDP İstanbul deputy Sabahat Tuncel also said it is unacceptable for the General Staff to have been engaged in wiretapping with no legal authority. “Turkey should immediately give up such outdated practices. We will launch our legal fight as soon as possible and will closely follow the developments,” she emphasized.

Işık was not surprised to see his name on the list of the civilians allegedly subjected to wiretapping. “It would be a lie if I said I was surprised when I heard about this scandal, since anti-democratic practices in Turkey are on the rise. Everybody is being illegally wiretapped. This is normal in a country where even the prime minister and the president were wiretapped. But, I wonder, why I was wiretapped? I am an actor. I am a person who openly says what he thinks in newspapers and on the stage. I never have a hidden agenda,” he complained.

Baskın Oran(L), Doğu Ergil(M), Kenan Işık(R)

The General Staff posted a statement on its website yesterday morning in response to Taraf’s news story and said an administrative investigation had been launched into the issue.

Gen. Güner also commented on the issue on Monday at a reception held on the occasion of Turkey’s Victory Day and avoided taking responsibility for the issue. “I demanded the launch of an investigation. The TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] cannot wiretap phones within the country. That system was purchased upon a decision by the Undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM). There are the signatures of the prime minister and the chief of General Staff under this decision. The system was purchased with the aim of fighting terror. The aim was to wiretap members of the terrorist organization, but if someone did wiretap some others, as I am not at the helm of that system at all times, this should also be exposed. Whoever has done wrong will give an accounting for that,” the commander said.

The military officer who revealed Güner’s alleged illegal activities on condition of anonymity also told Taraf that before Israel sold the wiretapping system in question to Turkey, it received detailed information about all GSM mobile phone systems in Turkey. “All of Turkey’s GSM data is in the hands of Israel, and it can wiretap us whenever it wants,” the officer said.

Academic Doğu Ergil, also a columnist for Today’s Zaman, says this is a grave allegation. “The Israelis can wiretap everyone with that data. If these claims are true, those who are involved in this scandal betrayed Turkey. It is both an example of stupidity and immorality to illegally keep the phone records of individuals and use them, saying, ‘They acted against our ideology.’ If such men ensure our national security, it means we are now insecure. I hope all of the victims of wiretapping file complaints and that further incidents are prevented,” he says.