Civilian, military probes launched into wiretapping claims

The minister’s remarks came late Tuesday on a television program. “I gave the necessary instructions to the BTK, and they will carry out an investigation. Although the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] also displayed sensitivity and launched a probe as well, this is not widely acknowledged by the public. The laymen in the street are saying, ‘Such things are being glossed over by the military.’ However, we do not want anything to be covered up. The BTK, which is authorized in communication issues, will clamp down on this,” he said.

The General Staff also announced on Wednesday that it had started its own judicial investigation of the claims, following the launch of an administrative probe on Monday. The General Staff gave some details about the initial findings of the administrative probe, stating that a judicial investigation has been launched in order to determine whether the system was used for purposes other than wiretapping terrorists.

The Taraf daily reported on Monday that Gen. Güner ordered the purchase of a wiretapping system from Israel to monitor members of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in 2007, but instead illegally wiretapped nearly 2,000 civilians, including prominent figures.

Recalling that the government passed a law in 2005 that granted the authority to wiretap phones to only the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), the National Police Department and the gendarmerie -- permission can only be granted following the approval of the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) and a court decision -- the minister said that under a new law, phones cannot be wiretapped by these three institutions without the permission of the TİB even if they have a court decision.

“Personal information that is acquired through illegal wiretapping is equal to a crime against humanity. Using a person’s private data against them is disgusting,” Yıldırım asserted.

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). 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.

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.

Jurists say if the claims are true, Gen. Güner would have committed three crimes: illegally purchasing a wiretapping system, illegally wiretapping phones and providing Israel with all of Turkey’s GSM codes.

Gen. Güner, who commented on the issue on Monday at a reception held on the occasion of Turkey’s Victory Day, avoided taking responsibility for the issue.

Stating that he demanded the launch of an investigation, he said the TSK cannot wiretap phones within the country. “The system was purchased with the aim of fighting terrorism. The aim was to wiretap members of a terrorist organization, but if someone did wiretap some others, as I did not oversee that system at all times, this should also be exposed. Whoever has done wrong will be held responsible,” the commander said.

Meanwhile, there were also news reports yesterday that Gen. Güner had been appointed to another post before the wiretapping system purchased was delivered to the GES. The reports said the system was included in the TSK inventory in May 2008 while Gen. Güner was assigned to the 4th Army Corps Command in August 2007. The General Staff also stated yesterday that Gen. Güner left his post at the General Staff in 2007.