Arrest warrants issued for Gülen and Uslu for wiretapping


Arrest warrants have been issued by Istanbul Third Penal Court of Peace on Tuesday for Fethullah Gülen and Emre Uslu for allegedly wiretapping 101 people, including Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.According to reports, İrfan Fidan, the Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor of Istanbul requested an arrest warrant for Gülen and Uslu under the scope of the unlawful wiretapping investigation and both are accused of storing unlawfully wiretapped recordings belonging to hundreds of people, including senior government officials.This is the second instance of an arrest warrant being issued for Fethullah Gülen. His first arrest warrant was issued during the Tahşiye case for leading a criminal organization in December.Both suspects are accused of "organizing and administering a terrorist organization, attempting to overthrow the democratically elected government of the Republic of Turkey, and exposing confidential data of the state for political or military espionage purposes."Emre Uslu, a well-known member of the Gülen Movement, was recently accused of being behind the controversial social media account named under the alias "Fuat Avni." Last week, a number of Turkish dailies reported scandalous private messages between Fuat Avni and Gülenist police officers, and also two parliamentarians from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), claiming that the Gülen Movement possesses inappropriate video tapes of CHP deputies for blackmailing purposes.Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen Movement who resides in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, United States is accused of leading a criminal organization which has secretly infiltrated Turkish state institutions. In December, a Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen following a request filed earlier by Istanbul's chief public prosecutor after coming to the conclusion that sufficient solid evidence had been discovered to prove his crimes in accordance with the Turkish Criminal Code.The court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Gülen enables the Turkish government to ask Interpol to conduct an investigation and issue a Red Notice since Gülen cannot be reached directly by Turkish officials. The Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters between the United States and the Republic of Turkey Treaty came into effect on January 1, 1981 and many fugitives have been extradited by Turkey to the U.S. under the scope of this treaty.