Turkey’s state opera illegally monitored by deputy general director: Reports

ISTANBUL

AA Photo.

An investigation has been opened into the former head of administrative and financial affairs at the General Directorate of State Opera and Ballet (DOB), after allegations that he was illegally monitoring personnel through a surveillance camera system installed on his computer. 

The Culture and Tourism Ministry launched an investigation into Fahrettin Atasayar on the grounds that he “wiretapped and monitored his personnel after installing the surveillance camera system of about 70 cameras located in different parts of the institution on his computer,” daily Cumhuriyet has reported. 

Atasayar recently resigned from the post, allegedly citing the investigations opened into his activities at the institution, launched upon complaints from DOB personnel. He also served as the substitute deputy general of the DOB. 

Four cameras had allegedly been placed in the lounge and four in the director general’s office within the general directorate’s building. Others were located in the studios, allowing Atasayar to monitor both the DOB’s administrative personnel and its artists.

Selman Ada, who was appointed as the DOB’s director general last summer, after former head Rengim Gökmen was removed from the post, appointed Atasayar as the substitute deputy general director of the DOB in September 2014.

Before resigning, Atasayar had held the post of administrative and financial affairs head since 2010, before which worked at the Directorate of Personnel and Education Department in the same institution.