Turkish parliament retains security camera footage for only one month

Rifat Başaran - ANKARA

Security camera footage of Turkey’s parliament is only stored a single month, officials have revealed after the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) demanded that previous security camera footage be analyzed regarding an alleged plot to attack the legislature.

The incident surfaced when CHP Istanbul lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu demanded to see footage between Oct. 1 and Nov. 1, 2016, to investigate an allegation that an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militant conducted reconnaissance for a possible attack on the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). 

The secretary general of the parliament, Mehmet Ali Kumbuzoğlu, responded to Tanrıkulu’s demand in a written letter, saying: “Camera footage showing the TBMM garden and surroundings from Oct. 1 – Nov. 1, 2016, have been demanded. As per the 42nd Article’s 3rd clause of the TBMM safety regulations, since the recordings are kept for at most one month by the Directorate of Information Technology, there are no video recordings of the TBMM garden and surroundings for the demanded date.”