2 Released In Gov't-Orchestrated Wiretapping Operation

An Antalya court released two suspects pending trial on Wednesday as part of an operation orchestrated by the government against police forces over charges of illegally wiretapping 130 people in Antalya.
During the fourth hearing in the Antalya 3rd High Criminal Court on Wednesday, two out of the three arrested suspects were released pending trial.
There are 12 suspects in the Antalya-based operation comprising police officers who worked in the intelligence unit of the Antalya Police department from 2009 to 2013.
Osman Yengil, the lawyer of one of the suspects, said during the hearing on Wednesday the police officers did nothing illegal while wiretapping people in Antalya from 2009 to 2013 upon the orders of judicial authorities.
Yengil underlined that all authorizations for wiretappings were conducted in accordance with Law No. 5397 on the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB) and have no irregularities. Yengil also said that in a similar case in 2012, gendarmerie officers were acquitted in a trial for wiretapping journalist Mehmet Baransu in 2012 after they claimed their surveillance of Baransu was legal as per Law No. 5397.
Gökhan Tayuk, one of the 12 suspects in the Antalya-based wiretapping operation and a former member of the Antalya Police Department's Intelligence Unit, remains under arrest pending trial. Tayuk is accused of being a member of the “parallel structure” and the leader of a group within the Antalya Police Department's Intelligence Unit that was illegally wiretapping people, including politicians, businessmen and government members.
The parallel structure or state is a term coined by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the aftermath of the corruption probes of 2013, implicating people from the inner circles of Erdoğan, to refer to the faith-based Gülen movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
The Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and Erdoğan accuse sympathizers of the movement, especially those in the police force and judiciary, of working to overthrow his AK Party government and orchestrating the corruption and bribery investigations. The movement denies the accusation.
After the graft scandals erupted in December 2013, a series of government-orchestrated operations against members of the police force have become a means of discharging experienced police officers and chiefs who are capable of carrying out key investigations into graft and smuggling.

MUSTAFA KOZAK | ANTALYA [Cihan/Today's Zaman]