Prime Ministry files complaint against daily Taraf over publishing of security council decisions

ANKARA

The document released on Nov. 28 by Taraf heated up the row between the government and the Gülen movement. Cihan photo

The Turkish Prime Ministry, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the National Security Council (MGK) have filed criminal complaints against daily Taraf and journalist Mehmet Baransu over the recent exposure of 2004 MGK decisions.

The three institutions separately applied to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s office about a Nov. 28-dated Taraf report, in which Baransu revealed an MGK decision recommending an action plan against the Gülen movement, signed by the government.

The Prime Ministry’s Legal Services Directorate alleged that the newspaper and the journalist had “committed libel by charging Prime Ministry Undersecretary Efkan Ala with illegal activity.”

The directorate also demanded that a criminal lawsuit be filed against Baransu.

The MGK General Secretariat, meanwhile, asked for necessary investigations and proceedings to be initiated over allegations of the “violation of MGK decision’s confidentiality and publishing false claims regarding the issue,” in Taraf’s Nov. 28 and Nov. 30 reports.

In the petition filed by the MİT, the undersecretariat requested the necessary criminal action to be taken against Baransu and Taraf, regarding a report published by the daily on Dec. 2.

The document released on Nov. 28 by Taraf heated up the row between the government and the Gülen movement. Some government officials subsequently confirmed the document’s existence, but denied that any action had been taken after its signing. 

In a Dec. 2 report, Taraf claimed that the Turkish government had profiled a number of groups based on religion and faith through the MİT and monitored their activities until 2013.