General Staff Investigates Deputy Chief Güner

The Presidency of the General Staff announced to have launched an investigation into allegations related to General Aslan Güner, the Deputy Chief of General Staff. Güner is alleged to have illegally wiretapped about 2,000 people in 2007.

The according news was published by the nation-wide Taraf newspaper on Monday morning (30 August). In a quick response, the Presidency of the General Staff announced to have initiated an "administrative investigation" on their website at 9.50 am the same morning.

Intellectual Prof. Baskın Oran and Istanbul Deputy of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) Sebahat Tuncel are supposed to be among the many people whose phones were bugged. They declared, "If the allegations should be confirmed, we will make use of our legal rights".

Oran commented the allegations as follows: "If they want to obtain any further information about me, they should read my articles in the weekly Radikal 2", a supplement of Radikal newspaper. Kurdish politician Tuncel said, "They interfered in people's private lives as well as they show each of these persons as potential enemies. This will cause serious social harm for the coming term. This is also very grave in terms of Turkish politics".

Kurish politician Orhan Miroğlu said that he might apply to the European Court of Human Rights.

The Taraf daily based the article entitled "Alsan Pasha's guilty ears" on a military official whose name was not mentioned directly. As reported in the article written by Mehmet Baransu, Güner allegedly organized the wiretapping when he was Head of the General Staff Intelligence Department in the rank of a Lieutenant General at the time. According to the news, a document signed by Güner in 2007 ordered the purchase of wiretapping equipment from Israel for the General Staff Electronic Systems Command (GES) for "wiretapping members of the PKK", the militant Kurdistan Workers Party. As a result, the mobile phones of about 2,000 people were wiretapped with the wire tapping system installed in a minibus, Taraf claimed.

Among the people supposedly wiretapped were Prof. Baskın Oran, Prof. Doğu Ergil, BDP Deputies Sebahat Tuncel and Sırrı Sakık, then DTP Deputy, the current Chair of the Equality and Democracy Party (EDP), Ziya Halis, and former Deputies Fikri Sağlar, Orhan Miroğlu and Leyla Zana.

Oran: They should read the Radikal supplement

"If they want to obtain any further information about me, they should read my articles in the weekly Radikal 2 supplement, because I write down all my thoughts. But the precondition is to go to primary school first and learn how to read." Oran said and continued:

"My writings even go beyond my thoughts and utterances once I sit in front of my computer since many ideas just come up while I am writing".

"If the allegations turn out to be true, my lawyer will open a trial. I even opened cases when I knew I would lose. Insult was allowed by the Court of Appeals 4^th Law Chamber. Why do I open these cases? The judiciary shows its quality with each of these unjust and unlawful decisions. This is an important issue for Turkey".

Tuncel: Serious problems will evolve in the future

Kurdish politician Tuncel argued:

"This indicates the level of democracy. It is the result of a conception that sees the society and its citizens as potential enemies. It is also dangerous. This mentality was the reason for the murder of [Turkish-Armenian journalist] Hrant Dink, for the oppression of the social opposition and the coup on 12 September [1980]. This mentality is also connected to the persistence on the war policies in the Kurdish question".

"Some PKK members are wiretapped, some Armenians are wiretapped and like that a new agenda of enemies is being created. Supposedly, they are also working on that. Why should 2,000 people be wiretapped, right? The probe of the General Staff should yield results as soon as possible. And it is even more important to let go of this mentality. This problem will persist as long as the Kurdish question is not resolved. I think that it is better to work and take some effort and time to meet the demands for the rights and freedom of the Kurdish people. Should the allegations be confirmed we will apply legal measures of course". (EÖ/VK)