Former members of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), who currently face charges of fabricating official documents in a case on the alleged bugging of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's office when he was the prime minister, reportedly prepared one of the fake documents vital for the case using plagiarizing copy-and-paste techniques. The report the suspects copied allegedly belongs to a technology firm based in the U.S., but was later taken off the company's website.

The former president of TÜBİTAK, Hasan Palaz, who is allegedly affiliated with the Gülen Movement, was asked to investigate the bugs placed in Erdoğan's office during his presidency, and find out when the wiretapping had started, as well as how long it had lasted, after which he was asked to present a document outlining this information. Palaz, however, was detained last week, on accusations of putting his signature on a fake document and allegedly covering the aforementioned information.

Palaz reportedly assigned former TÜBİTAK members Gökhan Vıcıl and Hamza Turhan to prepare the relevant document, but it was later discovered that assessments reported in the document were false and the report was fabricated, facts which fueled doubts that the suspects were trying to protect the members of the Gülen Movement to avoid charges against them.

The aforementioned suspects are currently accused of preparing the content of the officially-asked "date-determination report" based on a document that a U.S. technology firm had published on its website. Following charges against Palaz, Vıcıl, and Turhan, the U.S.-based firm reportedly took the sample report off its webpage.

The Gülen Movement, led by Fethullah Gülen, has been accused of infiltrating state institutions in Turkey to gain control of state mechanisms, illegal wiretapping, forgery of official documents and spying.