Gülen’s lawyer asks MİT whether it wiretapped client’s phone

Lawyer Nurullah Albayrak, who represents Turkish-Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, has asked in a petition to the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) whether allegations suggesting Gülen's phones had been wiretapped by the organization are true.

Albayrak sent the inquiry to MİT based on claims in an article recently written by Yeni Şafak columnist Cem Küçük. In the article, Küçük wrote: “It is seen from the legal wiretaps of phone conversations released by MİT that [Doğan Media Group owner] Aydın Doğan showers Fethullah Gülen with praise. Nowadays, Turkey will be shaken with a new suitcase incident.”

Küçük's use of the term "suitcase incident" refers to when journalist Mehmet Baransu in 2010 submitted to public prosecutors documents related to a 2003 coup plot in a suitcase, which marked the beginning of a coup trial known as Sledgehammer.

In the petition, the lawyer asked MİT if his client's phone conversations had been wiretapped by the organization and, if so, whether it was based on a court decision or had any legal basis.

Albayrak asked whether MİT staff had uploaded to the Internet the recordings in question, which the lawyer says had been edited and were not authentic.

The lawyer also asked whether any legal action has been taken against those responsible for wiretapping his client if it had been carried out without a court order.

In addition, Albayrak asked whether MİT will take any legal action concerning the claims raised by Küçük if the allegations about the wiretapping of Gülen by MİT turn out to be false.

Published on Sunday's Zaman, 12 April 2015, Sunday