Turkish ourt orders arrest of five in wiretapping of Erdoğan case

ANKARA

An Ankara court ordered on Dec. 1 the capture of five suspects in an investigation into the illegal wiretapping of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in which 13 were charged with “political espionage.”

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office had drafted an indictment to the Ankara 7th Heavy Penal Court, Anadolu Agency reported on Nov. 18.

Back in February 2014, then-Prime Minister Erdoğan described the illegal wiretapping of his home and office as “espionage.”

“The illegal wiretapping of my house is espionage. The necessary steps regarding this have been made. A very confidential file has been sent to the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office, but even that has been disclosed to the press,” he said at the time.

He had made public on Dec. 21, 2012 that wiretapping devices had been found in his Prime Ministry office and home.

According to news reports, an investigation launched into the case in February 2013 was transferred to a prosecutor’s office dealing with anti-terror cases, on the grounds that it involved an espionage crime.

While the suspects were charged with “political espionage,” President Erdoğan was cited as the “complainant” in the indictment, it also noted.

Among the 13 suspects, two are former directors of the country’s scientific watchdog, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK).