Erdoğan's phone was wiretapped for 21 months

An expertise report sent to the Gölbaşı Prosecutor's Office in Ankara showed that Prime Minister and Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) presidential candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's encrypted telephone was illegally wiretapped by members of the Gülen Movement for 21 consecutive months.

The expert, during an investigation at the Telecommunication Authority (TİB) records, found that among officials who were wiretapped were Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel, National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Chairman Hakan Fidan, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan, Interior Minister Efkan Ala - who was the Prime Ministry undersecretary at the time - Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız and Constitutional Court President Haşim Kılıç. Permissions for wiretapping were issued in quarterly intervals.

The expertise report will be used as evidence against the espionage activities of police officers and other officials linked to the Gülen Movement.

According to the expert, members of the Gülen Movement who infiltrated TİB wiretapped 76 of the 164 encrypted phones distributed to top officials. There were 304 separate quarterly permissions for wiretaps. The expert, in the report, said none of the legal procedures were followed for the wiretapping.

The expert found seven separate wiretapping permissions issued for one of the four encrypted phones issued to Erdoğan, amounting to a total of 21 months. The other three phones were wiretapped for nine months each.

Özel was wiretapped for 12 months while Fidan was wiretapped for nine months. 14 separate wiretapping orders were issued for Yıldız, which showed that he was listened to for 3.5 years.