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Turkish president’s phone wiretapped by Gulen supporters over 50 times

Türkiye Materials 21 January 2015 11:44 (UTC +04:00)
The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s phones, when he was prime minister of the country, and the phones of national intelligence head (MİT) Hakan Fidan were wiretapped by supporters of the Gulen movement in the law enforcement agencies 53 times
Turkish president’s phone wiretapped by Gulen supporters over 50 times

Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan.21

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's phones, when he was prime minister of the country, and the phones of national intelligence head (MİT) Hakan Fidan were wiretapped by supporters of the Gulen movement in the law enforcement agencies 53 times, the Turkish news agency Anadolu said Jan.21.

Fethullah Gulen is an Islamic social activist, who now lives in the United States.

The telephone conversations of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Turkey Taner Yildiz were also wiretapped, the agency said.

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It is reported that in total, phone conversations of 31 state officials, as well as members of their families, were wiretapped.

Turkish media reported on Feb. 5, 2014 that in 2011, the telephone conversations of about 7,000 people associated with the representatives of both the ruling and opposition parties, including family members of the prime minister, were wiretapped as part of an anti-terrorist operation carried out by Istanbul prosecutor's office against "Salam" terrorist organization.

During the anti-terrorist operations, telephone conversations of the head of the Turkish intelligence, Hakan Fidan were wiretapped as well.

The then prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Gulen of standing behind the wiretapping of the phone conversations.

Erdogan stressed that the Gulen movement with its anti-state activities proved that it is not a religious movement, but a politicized and illegal structure.

He also called on Fethullah Gulen not to intervene in Turkey's internal affairs and accused the US of supporting him.

Erdogan also previously said that Gulen will be extradited from the US.

However, the US authorities said that an extradition is inadmissible.

Earlier, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Ankara would make every effort to achieve the extradition of Gulen.

Turkish police periodically conduct operations to arrest supporters of Gulen. On January 20, some 19 people were detained in Turkey as part of the regular raids.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu

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