ANKARA
Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yildiz has discussed revelations that his phone was wiretapped, saying that the illegal monitoring of phones was against all parts of Turkish society.
“The Ministry of Energy acts transparently and we trust the power of transparency," Yildiz said in a press conference on Monday.
“The illegal wiretapping activities are not only against us, but also against all parts of Turkish society including opposition parties, journalists, academicians, NGOs,” said Yildiz.
The Turkish dailies published a list of ‘victims of illegal wiretapping’, on Monday, which is reported to amount to around 7,000 people from different political spectrums - including Yildiz.
The Energy Minister Taner Yildiz is one of the highest ranking officials in the list of eavesdropped persons, which also includes Interior Minister Efkan Ala.
The wiretapping allegations first erupted after Turkey’s intelligence agency, MIT, found bugs in Prime Minister Erdogan’s office in 2012.
The new allegations and the published list are part of an ongoing political struggle that was sparked on December 17 following an anti-graft probe aimed at the government, which led to high-profile arrests.
The government called the probe a ‘dirty plot’ against it, constructed by a ‘parallel state within the state’ that it says was nestled within the judiciary and police.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
