Two Gülen-linked Turkish telecom personnel arrested over spying charges
by Anadolu Agency
ANKARAApr 30, 2015 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Anadolu Agency
Apr 30, 2015 12:00 am
Two Turkish citizens working for the governmental telecom watchdog TİB were arrested in Ankara on Thursday for allegedly spying on Turkish state officials.
An Ankara prosecutor ordered the arrest of communications expert Hamza Demirezen and database coordinator Halil Çiçek for allegedly "being members of a terrorist organization" and "blocking and corrupting IT systems and destroying or altering data."
In the indictment, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, PM Ahmet Davutoğlu, several ministers, as well as Chief of Staff Necdet Özel and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan are cited among the injured parties.
The suspects are accused of "targeting the unity of the state" and "political and military espionage," among other charges.
The indictment says that the suspects eavesdropped on both "normal and encrypted" phones of state officials.
Government officials have accused the Gülen Movement -followers of U.S.-based Fethullah Gülen - of attempting to overthrow the government.
The investigations, which the government considers a "coup attempt," were based on wiretapping recordings of phone conversations and confidential meetings of government officials.
Later recordings which were leaked online included private family conversations of then Prime Minister Erdoğan and a top-level security meeting attended by then Foreign Minister Davutoglu and Chief of Staff Özel.
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