Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 25
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkish Prosecutor General Hadi Salihoglu confirmed reports about wiretapping of government members, Turkish Sabah newspaper reported on Feb. 25.
Salihoglu said Istanbul prosecutor's office revealed during its operations that there is no armed terrorist organization called 'Salam' in Turkey, but despite that, telephone conversations were wiretapped over three years.
On February 24, several Turkish media outlets said the telephone conversations of near 7000 people, close to both the country's ruling party and opposition parties, were wiretapped as part of an anti-terrorist operation against members of the 'Salam' organization in 2011.
It was also reported that the telephone conversations of Turkish intelligence head, Hakan Fidan were also wiretapped under these anti-terrorist operations.
Turkish ruling Justice and Development Party member Mazhar Bagli said on Feb. 25 that the recordings of the officials' telephone conversations were transferred to a third party, but he did not identify the third party.
Yesterday Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister, Taner Yildiz, speaking about this incident, denied media reports about the involvement of some Turkish government members in terror organizations.
On Feb. 25 a criminal case was launched in Turkey with regard to the illegal wiretapping of officials' telephone conversations. Two prosecutors were detained as part of this criminal case, although their names were not reported.
Translated by E.A.
Edited by C.N.