Four officials working for TÜBİTAK and TİB arrested in wiretapping probe

Three people working for Turkey's top scientific body TÜBİTAK and another official working for the Telecommunications Authority(TİB) were arrested on Wednesday as part of the investigation into wiretapping government officials including President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The Ankara 5th Criminal Court of Peace gave the arrest order for three TÜBİTAK officials İmran Ergüler, Erhan Yeni, Özgür Örem and TİB official Yunus Şahin. The suspects are facing charges of allegedly "being members of a terrorist organization" and "blocking and corrupting IT systems and destroying or altering data."

The Gülen Movement has been accused of wiretapping thousands of people including famous figures, academics, NGO leaders, politicians and others through their agents at the TİB. It is alleged that they carried out the December 17 operation and have infiltrated state institutions in efforts to establish a parallel state and discredit the government through a defamation campaign.

The movement is also accused of wiretapping encrypted phones used by top government officials, as well as using a bugging device to record a confidential security meeting held amongst the foreign minister and intelligence agents on March 21, concerning the protection of the Suleiman Shah tomb, a Turkish enclave in Syria, and leaking this recording on YouTube. Fethullah Gülen, the movement's leader, is currently in the U.S. and may face extradition.