CHP joins MHP for probe call into bugs

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy leader SEzgin Tanrıkulu is among the four main opposition lawmakers who have signed the party’s application. AA photo

The main opposition party has applied to Parliament to probe illegal eavesdropping following reports that the prime minister had been bugged, a day after the nationalist opposition party demanded a parliamentary commission on the issue.

The Republican People’s Party (CHP) submitted its petition to Parliament yesterday with the purpose of “revealing the reasons for widespread wiretapping, launching judicial action against officials who do not take necessary measures, discovering the perpetrators who bugged the prime minister and removing the concerns of the people.”

“The prime minister has been complaining about wiretapping, through which he tried to oppress the opposition. Investigating the prime minister’s claims [of wiretapping] has vital importance,” it read.

Illicit wiretapping is the main source of a “fear empire” being established by the government’s acts, the CHP said, adding that freedom of communication and the right to privacy have been frequently breached through widespread eavesdropping. “Despite all these facts, it’s interesting to see the government’s inaction and silence over who [committed the wiretapping], how and why these wiretappings occurred,” the CHP’s petition read.

The illicit eavesdropping has been used for political purposes especially by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before the 2011 general elections, which shows the real motive behind these illegal activities,
the main opposition said.

Source of threat

“The recordings of illegal wiretapping were not only used during the pre-election campaign but also were used as a source of threat against the main opposition party by the prime minister,” it read, citing a statement by Erdoğan that every step of CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu was followed.

The party also said illegal eavesdropping was likely to hit more oppositional politicians on the eve of local elections slated for March 2014. “The success [they] cannot get in the elections is sought to be compensated for through unlawful means that have been turned into a massacre of fundamental human rights. The only duty of mayors is to serve the people.”