Ankara in shock over probe on intel chiefs

[Quasar]

Ankara has been left perplexed after a special-authority prosecutor summoned the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and two retired officials for questioning over past talks with outlawed Kurdish militants in Oslo.

MİT chief Hakan Fidan is the first incumbent head of the intelligence service to be summoned to answer questions in a judicial probe. Fidan, his predecessor, Emre Taner, and former MİT deputy chair Afet Güneş, who were all involved in talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were summoned Feb. 7, Istanbul’s deputy chief prosecutor Fikret Seçen told reporters.

Seçen declined to say whether the three would be questioned as witnesses, suspects, or just individuals who may possess information related to the judiciary’s wide-ranging investigation into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the PKK’s alleged urban wing. They were called by prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya, who is in charge of the KCK probe in Istanbul, Seçen added.

Politicians in Ankara were surprised by the announcement, with Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç expressing astonishment that they could be called to testify in the KCK probe and wondering whether Fidan could even be legally questioned.

Appointed to the head of the MİT in early 2010, Fidan made headlines in September 2011 following the release of voice recordings of a meeting between the MİT and PKK’s senior officials in Oslo. The meeting reportedly took place between late 2009 and early 2010.

PM’s permission needed

MİT’s legal bureau was studying the issue yesterday, sources said, but it was not immediately clear whether the three officials would go to the prosecutor today. Under Article 26 of the law regulating MİT, its employees can be prosecuted only with the prime minister’s permission.

Legal experts, however, said special-authority prosecutors handling terror-related probes could question anybody without permission under the penal code. The prosecutor may drop the questioning if he becomes convinced that it will lead to the exposure of state secrets. In 2009, MİT’s regional chief in Erzurum and two subordinates were arrested as part of the Ergenekon probe.

The summonses were first leaked to the media late Feb. 7 and caught Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, Turan Çolakkadı, off guard. Çolakkadı, who is supposed to be informed of such procedures, said he was unaware of the decision.

Gov’t defends MİT chief

In Ankara, senior government officials were also perplexed, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan withholding any immediate comment. Erdoğan and Interior Minister İdris Naim Şahin refused to take questions from reporters.

Arınç, meanwhile, cast doubt on whether Fidan could be questioned without permission.

“I don’t know whether they will be questioned as suspects or witnesses. My mind fails to explain how those three people could be part of the KCK probe as suspects. Even if they have been summoned as suspects, I don’t think that this is possible for Fidan,” he said. Arınç speculated that the three must have been summoned as witnesses or people with information.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu praised Fidan and defended MİT’s contacts with the PKK, which said were conducted upon “political instructions” from the government. “We think that Fidan and his team’s work is important in the context of achieving success in the internal and external intelligence security of the state. It’s important to support this team,” Davutoğlu said.

Reaction from the opposition was mixed. Atilla Kart of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) played down the prosecutor’s move as “for show only,” while Oktay Vural of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) argued that Erdoğan should also be investigated for having ordered the MİT-PKK talks.
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) deputy Altan Tan said the summoning of the MİT chief reflected the “tragicomic” stage that the KCK probe had reached.

“If you ask me, the prime minister is the number-one suspect in the KCK case,” he said tongue-in-cheek. “Let’s see how they will clean this up.”

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

POLITICS - Ankara in shock over probe on intel chiefs

 

[silko]

what is this fuss all about? i heard about it in the news but didn't understand the problem!

 

[RedBeard]

See!!! I told you these Kemalists and Generals are all traitors and Cowards they sell there own mothers for money! This is why i just love AKP They take mathers in there own hands and fish out all of these imbeccile traitors! Anyone still dares to say that AKP is no good?

Allahim ya. You have no idea my dear friend.. This Intel chief Hakan Fidan was brought by Erdogan himself to the head of MIT. He has nothing to do with Kemalists.. Really go educate yourself about this matter before u accuse kemalists.

 

[RedBeard]

what is this fuss all about? i heard about it in the news but didn't understand the problem!

the mainstream media is not telling the truth, they are hiding something.

 

[silko]

the mainstream media is not telling the truth, they are hiding something.

i dont even know what they are telling. i just heard that he was being accused of something... if someone can tell me short what it is all about!

 

[BordoEnes]

Allahim ya. You have no idea my dear friend.. This Intel chief Hakan Fidan was brought by Erdogan himself to the head of MIT. He has nothing to do with Kemalists.. Really go educate yourself about this matter before u accuse kemalists.

''Ankara has been left perplexed after a special-authority prosecutor summoned the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and two retired officials for questioning over past talks with outlawed Kurdish militants in Oslo''

They are talking about 2 retired officials didnt say anything about fidan

 

[Gaara]

''Ankara has been left perplexed after a special-authority prosecutor summoned the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and two retired officials for questioning over past talks with outlawed Kurdish militants in Oslo''

They are talking about 2 retired officials didnt say anything about fidan

"MİT chief Hakan Fidan is the first incumbent head of the intelligence service to be summoned to answer questions in a judicial probe. Fidan, his predecessor, Emre Taner, and former MİT deputy chair Afet Güneş, who were all involved in talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were summoned Feb. 7, Istanbul’s deputy chief prosecutor Fikret Seçen told reporters."

 

[RedBeard]

Turkish spy chief summoned over PKK talks

A power struggle within the Turkish government has been laid bare by a court summons for the country’s intelligence chief over government negotiations with alleged Kurdish terrorists.

In an unprecedented move, Hakan Fidan, the head of the country’s powerful MIT intelligence agency, was asked to give evidence on Thursday on government contacts with Kurdish militants – including negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ party, or PKK, which is classified as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union.


Although initial reports suggested Mr Fidan would not appear in court – because his intelligence work was outside its jurisdiction – the summons was widely seen as a shot across the bows of any future attempt at talks with the PKK.

“No matter what what happens with this case, this gives a very clear message to the government and the bureaucracy not to continue with the peace opening,” said Yavuz Baydar, a Turkish columnist, who suggested that nationalist Turkish state officials were seeking to prevent any resumption of a now-stalled negotiation drive.

Other commentators suggested that other groups – such as the followers of Fethullah Gulen, an influential Muslim preacher – could be behind the move.

The court request followed an internet leak last year of a tape of secret negotiations in Oslo between a team led by Mr Fidan and PKK representatives, another move widely seen as making future such contacts more difficult.

It also comes after previous signs of tension between Turkish prosecutors and the government of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has criticised the detention before trial on terrorist charges last month of retired General Ilker Basbug, the former head of the country’s armed forces.

“Fidan is a protege of Erdogan’s,” said Sinan Ulgen, a former Turkish diplomat now with the Carnegie Endowment. “We know that he did these things, such as the talks in Norway, with the full backing of the prime minister.”

The case in which Mr Fidan has been asked to testify, along with two colleagues, is a probe into the KCK, a shadowy Kurdish umbrella organisation that prosecutors say supervises the PKK and other Kurdish groups.

Government officials reacted with astonishment to the court request, and in a possibly related move two Istanbul police chiefs who had been supervising the investigation were removed from their posts on Wednesday.

“My mind fails to explain how these people could be part of the probe as suspects,” said Bulent Arinc, deputy prime minister. Ahmet Davutoglu, foreign minister, also expressed his support for Mr Fidan’s efforts.

The government’s contacts with the PKK – which appear to have taken place in 2009-10 – were widely perceived to have been put on ice during an escalation of the battle against the PKK, which carried out a series of bloody attacks in Turkey last year, and the expansion of the KCK probe.

“The idea is that once they have hit some of the infrastructure they will go back to the negotiations from a position of strength,” said Mr Ulgen.


Turkish spy chief summoned over PKK talks - FT.com

 

[RedBeard]

Turkish President calls summons for MIT officials "unfortunate"


“Utmost attention should be paid when directing accusations at some [state] institutions when it concerns their duties. All these developments are truly unfortunate and saddening,” Gül said.

Turkish President Abdullah Gül termed the latest developments on intelligence officials “unfortunate and saddening.”

The comment comes after an İstanbul prosecutor overseeing an investigation into a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) linked militant organization has asked the Ankara Prosecutor's Office to hear the testimony of National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, while obtaining capture warrants for four other MİT officials.

İstanbul Specially Authorized Prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya this week summoned MİT Undersecretary Fidan, his predecessor Emre Taner and MİT Deputy Undersecretary Afet Güneş to testify in the ongoing investigation into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), which Turkish prosecutors say is a group that controls the PKK and other affiliated groups.

“Utmost attention should be paid when directing accusations at some [state] institutions when it concerns their duties. All these developments are truly unfortunate and saddening,” he said.

MİT appealed the prosecutor's move to summon Fidan to testify on Thursday, arguing the prosecutor's office should have asked permission from the prime minister, but prosecutor Sarıkaya rejected the appeal on Friday. The prosecutor also asked the Ankara Prosecutor's Office to hear Fidan's testimony and obtained capture warrants for Güneş, Taner and two other former MİT officials. The prosecutor requested capture warrants from the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court on Friday and the court accepted the prosecutor's request.

The prosecutor's move spurred a debate over whether a prosecutor is authorized to prosecute Fidan, who might, along with four other MİT officers, face charges of collaborating with the KCK. The discussion concerns whether prosecutors looking to indict or even question Fidan might need special permission from the prime minister's office, which MİT is a part of.

In rejecting MİT's appeal, prosecutor Sarıkaya pointed to Article 250 of the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK), which says anyone accused of terrorism-related crimes loses any legal shields that they might normally have in the course of investigations regarding other crimes due to their position. This article adds that a person facing charges that fall under the scope of terrorist activities cannot benefit from any immunity, regardless of his or her rank.


Turkish President calls summons for MIT officials "unfortunate" | Politics | World Bulletin

 

[RedBeard]

MİT wiretapped Taraf journalists, using foreign codenames

Journalist Mehmet Baransu (Photo: Today's Zaman)​

9 February 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL

The National Intelligence Organization (MİT) tapped the phones of several Taraf journalists using court orders in which the journalists were only mentioned by their foreign codenames, the Taraf daily reported on Thursday.


According to Taraf, the phones of Taraf Editor-in-Chief Ahmet Altan, Deputy Editor-in-Chief Yasemin Çongar, Taraf columnist Markar Esayan, former Taraf columnist Amberin Zaman and journalist and academic Professor Mehmet Altan were tapped by MİT between 2008 and 2009.

MİT was able to wiretap the phones of these journalists through court orders the organization received from the İstanbul 11th and 14th High Criminal Courts between 2008 and 2009. Publishing the copies of these court orders, Taraf wrote that the journalists were mentioned by their foreign codenames only in those court orders. The codenames are in foreign languages, mostly Arabic. The phone numbers of the Taraf journalists were also mentioned in the court order, which enabled the daily to identify which alias belonged to which journalist.

The goal of the technical monitoring is explained in the court ruling as to collect information about the individuals and their illegal actions ahead of acts of terrorism they might be involved in.

MİT’s involvement in the illegal wiretapping of journalists has been interpreted as a scandal by the journalists, who say they expect a satisfactory statement from MİT and the Prime Ministry.

Taraf’s Çongar said the moment they learned about the illegal wiretapping of their phones, they contacted MİT and were told that “MİT does not wiretap journalists.” Çongar said they would file a criminal complaint against MİT.

“We cannot accept claims that these wiretaps were made in order to prevent crimes and over suspicions of [our] membership in a terrorist organization. We are preparing to file a criminal complaint [against MİT] regarding the illegal wiretapping case,” Çongar said.

Altan said illegally wiretapping well-known columnists over charges of being a member of a terrorist organization is hair-raising. “I expect a statement from MİT, the Prime Ministry and the Justice Ministry about this scandal. The wiretaps were made quite recently. At a time when we talk about a new Turkey, which we always say is being transformed into an advanced democracy, this scandalous wiretapping practice needs to be clarified,” Altan said.

He also noted that if a satisfactory statement is not given by the government and MİT, he will file a criminal complaint against MİT.

Journalist Esayan, who is also a Today’s Zaman columnist, said it is very sad for an institution commissioned by the state to preserve the safety of the citizens to wiretap journalists with fake codenames.

“Our journalistic activities are obvious. I wonder which of our activities were seen as a threat and why this illegal wiretapping took place. We are faced with a situation similar to what [journalist] Mehmet Baransu faced when he was wiretapped by the gendarmerie. From this we understand that not only the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] but other institutions as well need to become more transparent,” Esayan said, adding that he will also file criminal complaints against those who gave the order for the illegal wiretaps.

In the meantime, two MİT agents who had allegedly been following Taraf journalist Baransu for weeks were apprehended by police in İstanbul on Wednesday after a complaint by Baransu.

Baransu told reporters on Wednesday, after alerting the police about the suspects, that he saw the man who was following him at different places at different times. He stated that he was sitting with his bodyguard at a restaurant recently when he noticed a man and a blonde woman sitting nearby. He became suspicious because he had seen the two in Bakırköy, Tophane and Florya on different occasions.

The journalist said he was concerned and called the police to report the two. He added that it wasn’t only those two individuals that he has noticed, but that there were two others. He also said that when two individuals following him noticed that he was calling the police, they became anxious.

Baransu also told reporters on Wednesday that he had learned that the man and the woman who were following him were in fact employees of MİT. He added that a department head from MİT came to the police station where Baransu had filed a complaint about the two. The veteran journalist added that the chief of police told him an official from MİT wanted to meet him and that MİT employees had in fact been at the restaurant, but for other business. Baransu questions this explanation and refuses to meet with the department head.

MİT members Ç.Ç. and M.U.G. were taken to the Kocasinan Police Station in İstanbul’s Bahçelievler district, where police found wiretapping devices on their bodies. They were referred to a court in Bakırköy after which they were released.

Baransu and Turkey’s intelligence agency have been involved in a spat since last month over an airstrike on Dec. 28, 2011 that killed 34 smugglers. Turkish warplanes killed the civilians in an operation targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) when they mistook them for PKK members.

The tragedy was first blamed by some, including Taraf writer Baransu, on false intelligence provided by double agents inside the PKK employed by MİT, but the government and MİT have denied this. MİT released a statement following Baransu’s charges and accused the journalist of maliciously targeting the agency.

Baransu claimed on Dec. 30 that MİT agents inside the PKK had intentionally provided intelligence to the General Staff that a group of terrorists would be crossing the northern Iraqi border near Uludere nine days before the airstrike. The assertion also angered Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who said on Dec. 30 that MİT had nothing to do with the attack.

“There was no last minute intelligence from MİT. There are tightrope-walkers disguised as columnists [making these allegations]. One would think that these tightrope-walkers in journalists’ clothing have bugged MİT, but they can’t get the right information,” the prime minister said.

A tightrope-walker in Turkish often refers to people who cunningly change their stance for personal gain.


M

 

[RedBeard]

Former, current intelligence chiefs to testify in KCK terrorism probe

MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan. (Photo: AA)​

8 February 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL

A chief prosecutor on Wednesday confirmed that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) undersecretary, his predecessor and a former deputy undersecretary were summoned to testify in an ongoing probe into a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) affiliated organization.


İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Fikret Seçen on Wednesday said MİT Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, his predecessor Emre Taner and MİT Deputy Undersecretary Afet Güneş were summoned to testify in the ongoing investigation into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), which Turkish prosecutors say is a group that controls the PKK and other affiliated groups. Reports said the three became suspects following recently disclosed talks they had with members of the PKK in Oslo.

Most commentators didn't know what to make of the recent twist in the KCK investigation as Fidan was hand-picked by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his position. Observers recalled that the prime minister said late last year -- after his Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was accused of cracking down on the Kurdish opposition when Büşra Ersanlı, an academic at Marmara University, was arrested as part of the KCK investigation -- that those who "look out for the KCK should reconsider their stance." Erdoğan had not made a comment on the recent developments by the time Today's Zaman went to print on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Tanju Özcan said he had filed charges against Fidan and Güneş, speaking at a press conference at Parliament. He didn't say when the charges were filed. He also said Prime Minister Erdoğan should be included in the investigation. However, sources Today's Zaman talked to say that new evidence -- including testimonies from suspects and witnesses as well as letters exchanged between senior KCK members and PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, which prosecutors say were used for relaying orders for attacks to the PKK -- obtained in the most recent operations into the KCK has played a role in the three men being summoned.

Also the fact that some people arrested in KCK operations recently were MİT agents and information provided by these individuals was also considered. Some of these agents, the prosecution suspects, might have crossed the line and collaborated in KCK crimes.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Wednesday threw his support behind MİT chief Fidan and his team saying, “Mr. Fidan, the former undersecretary who was in charge at the time [of the Oslo talks], and his team have done the right thing.”

It is clear in the recording of the talks that they were held at a time when Fidan was still serving as a deputy undersecretary at the Prime Ministry. Fidan was appointed as head of the MİT in May 2010.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç commented on the prosecutor’s move on Wednesday, saying he does not think that it would be legally possible to summon an active duty MİT undersecretary to testify as a suspect without notifying his superiors. Noting that it is not still certain whether Fidan will testify as a suspect or witness, Arınç said, “But in order for him to be included in the investigation [as a suspect], I think there should be some permission,” he added.

Adem Yavuz Arslan, a journalist who has written extensively on Turkish intelligence, said: “The KCK investigation has been underway in various parts of Turkey since 2009. The fact that both Fidan and Güneş have been summoned along with Fidan indicate that this [investigation] is not limited to the Oslo talks. This indicates that the prosecution now has access to evidence from the period predating the start of the investigation in 2009. What they have, we do not know. It is most certainly an extraordinary situation.”

Deputy Chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) Parliamentary Group Hasip Kaplan said all lawyers or journalists who have visited İmralı -- the prison island where PKK’s jailed leader Öcalan is being held since 1997 -- have been called to testify by the prosecutors. “But if the [intelligence chiefs] say, ‘we were ordered by other people, and this is why we went [for talks in Oslo],’ then that would be a new story,” Kaplan said.

“We do not yet know exactly on what subject they were summoned,” said CHP Konya deputy Atilla Kart. “I think this investigation is only about putting on a show. I don’t think this will be a fair investigation, because if it was a serious investigation, the political aspect at work here should also be included. However, I don’t think the current mechanisms of prosecution in Turkey are in a position to carry out such an investigation.”

In yet another unexpected twist, the head of the İstanbul Police Department’s Counterterrorism Unit Yurt Atayün and the Intelligence chief Erol Demirhan were removed from office on Wednesday. Both police chiefs were in charge of directing the investigation into the KCK.

In fact, whether or not the intelligence chiefs were summoned was initially a source of controversy. Commenting on the initial reports earlier in the day, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Turan Çolakkadı said that he had no information with regards to the alleged move by prosecutor Sarıkaya. “If any prosecutor at the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office has made such a request, I should have been informed about that. Unless I have such information, it cannot be true that those people were summoned to testify,” he said.

However, Seçen confirmed later in the day that the three were summoned to deliver their testimonies over the phone, adding that they were invited to the Beşiktaş Courthouse on Thursday. However, he refused to respond to questions on whether the three were suspects in the case or not.

An almost 50-minute-long voice recording was leaked late last year, which revealed that Fidan had attended a meeting with the PKK in Oslo as the “special envoy of Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan.” At the time, Fidan was serving as deputy undersecretary at the Prime Ministry and had not yet been appointed head of MİT.

Deputy Undersecretary Güneş represented the intelligence organization at the meeting. Senior PKK leaders Mustafa Karasu, Sabit Ok and Zübeyr Aydar met with government representatives under the mediation of a representative from an unknown “coordinator country.”

The KCK investigation, in which Fidan and two others will testify, started in December 2009, and a large number of Kurdish politicians, including several mayors from the BDP, have been detained. The suspects are accused of various crimes, including membership in a terrorist organization, aiding and abetting a terrorist organization and attempting to destroy the country’s unity and integrity. BDP officials have said the investigation is the government’s way of suppressing BDP politicians, denying any links between the suspects and any terrorist organizations.

Turkey first heard about the KCK in 2009 but prosecutors say the KCK was established in 2005 upon the order of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. A 7,578-page indictment accepted by Diyarbakır’s 6th Criminal Court on June 18, 2010, explains the general structure of the KCK, as has been revealed from documents obtained by authorities.

The indictment says the organization has its own parliament, constitution and judicial branches. The structure was defined as a “confederate system.” The KCK allegedly possesses both a lateral and a pyramid-shaped organizational structure, and is active not only in Turkey but also in Syria, Iran and Iraq.

By forming an alternative to the official branches of justice, management and politics in these countries, it provides a roof under which its supporters can gather

In related developments on Wednesday, a civil society group representing Turkish veterans filed charges of establishing a criminal organization, threatening the unity and integrity of the Turkish state, committing crimes on behalf of a terrorist group and aiding and abetting an armed terrorist group against Prime Minister Erdoğan, Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay and the three intelligence chiefs with the Ankara Prosecutor’s office. The veterans, speaking outside the prosecutor’s office, said they had lost their eyes, legs and arms fighting terrorists, expressing their resentment of the talks the Turkish state had with the PKK in Oslo.


Former, current intelligence chiefs to testify in KCK terrorism probe