Expert: Turkey's national security under threat if wiretapping claims true

The Bugün daily quoted remarks from the expert yesterday, who preferred to remain anonymous since he is an on duty state official. “If this happened, it means that Turkey indirectly told Israel to ‘track and wiretap all phone calls, even those encrypted, through satellite.' If these claims turn out to be true, our national security will be severely damaged. The communications of all high-level state officials -- from members of the government to bureaucrats -- can be illegally monitored and recorded,” the official told the daily.

The state official, who gave detailed information about the system known as the Thuraya Satellite Communications Monitoring or Interception System, said none of the three institutions which are authorized to wiretap phones are equipped with the system available at the General Staff’s Electronic Systems Command (GES). “The institution which has this system can wiretap thousands by bypassing the [Telecommunications Directorate] TİB and those who are tracked won’t notice anything at all,” he said.

The Taraf daily reported on Monday that Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Aslan 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.

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 GES. However, according to a law that was passed in 2005, the ability to wire tap 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 TİB. Thus, the GES does not have any legal authority to wiretap phones in Turkey.

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 on 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.

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.

General Staff statement found unsatisfactory

Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım announced on Tuesday that he had ordered the ministry’s Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) to launch an investigation into the illegal wiretapping claims.

The General Staff gave some details about the initial findings of the administrative probe launched on Monday into the claims, stating that a judicial investigation has also been launched in order to determine whether the system was used for purposes other than wiretapping terrorists. The statement said the purchase of the system was all in accordance with relevant laws, but Taraf says the General Staff by no means have the authority to purchase a wiretapping system and wiretap individuals. A TİB official who spoke to Taraf on condition of anonymity said the General Staff committed a constitutional crime by violating the freedom of communication. The official underlined that the TİB was not informed about GES’s wiretapping acts and added that directorate will investigate the claims.

The General Staff also said in the statement that the system was included in the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) inventory in May 2008 while Gen. Güner was assigned to the 4th Army Corps Command and that the general left his post in August 2007. Noting that this is true, Taraf maintained that Gen. Güner was assigned back to the General Staff as the deputy chief of General Staff in 2009 and that GES has been under his command as well.

The General Staff argued that the technical equipment for the system was installed near borders to wiretap terrorists outside the country. However, Taraf says the system cannot wiretap phones at a distance of more than 30 kilometers. The daily also provided a document signed by Gen. Güner ordering the wiretapping of individuals inside Turkey as evidence.

Oran files complaint against Güner

Among the nearly 2,000 individuals whose phones were allegedly wiretapped through the wiretapping system in question 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.

Oran has been the first individual to file a criminal complaint against Gen. Güner. Submitting her client’s complaint to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Wednesday, lawyer Oya Aydın said the illegal wiretapping of civilians by a high-ranking military official is a crime which should be immediately investigated. The petition demanded that Gen. Güner and other military officers found to be involved in the scandal be charged with abuse of power, violation of privacy and violation of the privacy of personal communications.