Top Turkish judge looks into allegations of phone tapping

Investigation begins into whether AKP illegally ordered eavesdropping

Placards reading ‘We complain about the Ergenekon gang’ are held up by demonstrators in Istanbul earlier this year. Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals said yesterday it was investigating whether the AKP government had illegally phone-tapped judges on the court.

ANKARA (AP) – Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals said yesterday that it was investigating whether the Islamic-oriented government may have illegally ordered the telephone tapping of judges on the court, a bastion of secularism.

The case highlights tension between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has a strong electoral mandate, and staunchly secular Turks, including those in Turkey’s traditional power bases of the military and judiciary.

Hasan Gerceker, head of the Supreme Court of Appeals, told Turkish reporters that the court was looking into the possibility that officials may have sidestepped legal procedures required for eavesdropping on the court.

“The permission of the head judge is required. Without that, the telephones of the Court of Appeals cannot be tapped,” Gerceker said.

Turkish media reported that the Justice Ministry ordered the tapping of telephones of top judges and other members of the judiciary as part of an investigation into an alleged plot by hardline secularists to overthrow Turkey’s government. Military officers, politicians and journalists are on trial for their alleged involvement in Ergenekon, a terrorist organization.

Citing a prosecutor’s report, major newspapers and television stations said those targeted for eavesdropping included a senior judge who sought to prosecute President Abdullah Gul on corruption charges, the head of a group of judges and prosecutors that is critical of the government, and Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, who is involved in the Ergenekon case.

Media organizations, including private NTV television and the pro-government Sabah newspaper, said an Istanbul court gave the order for telephone tapping at the request of Justice Ministry inspectors in 2008.

Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin said he was unaware of the tapping.

“The orders for phone tapping are secret. It is not possible for ministers to be informed,” Ergin said. “The courts give the tapping orders while the [state-run] telecommunications agency implements them.” Eavesdropping – legal or illegal – has always been widespread in Turkey.

“Judges, prosecutors cannot be tapped unless there is criminal suspicion against them,” said Muammer Aydin, head of the Istanbul Bar Association.

The Justice Ministry is seeking to oust two people who were allegedly tapped – judge Osman Kacmaz and prosecutor Omer Faruk Eminagaoglu – over allegations that include flouting confidentiality guidelines. The final decision rests with a state board that handles judicial appointments.

DIYARBAKIR (Reuters) – Eight Turkish Kurd rebels based in Iraq have surrendered, becoming the second such group to turn themselves in since the government pledged in July to boost political rights to end a 25-year separatist conflict.

The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebels were being questioned by a prosecutor in the city of Diyarbakir after surrendering yesterday in the town of Silopi on the Turkish side of the border with Iraq, court officials said.

The group escaped from camps in northern Iraq, defying rebel leaders’ orders, where most of the PKK’s 3,000 or so fighters are based, and have told authorities that “a large number” of other rebels want to return to Turkey, security sources said.

When eight PKK members returned to Turkey with the PKK’s permission on October 19, tens of thousands of supporters streamed to the border to welcome them, waving flags and chanting pro-PKK slogans. Those scenes prompted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to delay further PKK-approved returns.