Turkey PM Erdogan says 'tapped' phone call to son 'fabricated'

BBC News online -- 25 February 2014

The Turkish prime minister was speaking to a meeting of his AK Party in parliament

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan has angrily condemned as fabricated an audio recording that appears to show him talking to his son about hiding large sums of money.

He said the recording, allegedly tapped and posted on social media, was a "treacherous attack".
It appears to reveal Mr Erdogan asking his son Bilal to dispose of millions of euros in cash from a house.
The opposition has called for the prime minister's resignation.

Analysis

Cagil Kasapoglu BBC Turkish

In the recording, the voice claimed to be Mr Erdogan's sounds whispering and hesitant, whereas the younger voice comes across as stronger, clearer and louder.
Bilal Erdogan's voice has allegedly been heard in previous recordings related to the corruption case. The tone in the latest recording seems similar.
But the voice labelled as belonging to the prime minister is surprisingly low, cautious and doubtful. This will strike many, who are used to Mr Erdogan shouting and adopting a higher tone, as someone careful and selective in his words.
During the last conversation on 17 December, the younger voice says that there are still around 30 million euros to be removed.
The following day, the voice alleged to be Mr Erdogan's warns that his son may have been wire-tapped and asks him not to give too many details on the phone.
At the end, the voice alleged to be his son's expresses concern over possible visual surveillance as well.
Interestingly, neither the prime minister nor his party's spokespeople have denied the voices belong to Mr Erdogan and his son but say the voices were "montaged" to implicate them.

The recordings, which could not be independently verified, were said to be of four conversations dating back to 17 December, when the sons of three ministers and business allies of the prime minister were detained in a high-level corruption investigation.

Correspondents say that the inquiry has presented a major challenge to Mr Erdogan's 11 years in power ahead of key local elections in March.

Cagil Kasapoglu from BBC Turkish says that, interestingly, neither the prime minister nor his party's spokespeople have denied that the voices on the recording belong to Erdogan and his son.

Their statement so far is that their voices were "montaged" to implicate them, our correspondent says.
During the conversation, a voice can be heard discussing how to reduce the funds to "zero" by distributing them among several businessmen.

At one point, the second voice says some 30 million euros ($40m/£24m) remains to be disposed of.
Mr Erdogan's office issued a statement late on Monday night saying the release of the recordings was part of a sustained campaign to unseat him.

"Those who created this dirty conspiracy targeting the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey will be brought to account within the law," it said.

Exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen is accused of running a "parallel state" within Turkey

 

Mr Erdogan had a late-night meeting with the head of intelligence and then spoke out publicly on Tuesday, telling MPs from his AK Party the recording was a "shameless montage" and an attack on him personally.

"We will bring legal action against these [wire-tapping] activities. If we let it go on, there will be no privacy for families, nor for the state in this country," he said.

By late Tuesday morning, the recording had received more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube in less than 24 hours.

Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement

• Hizmet ("service") is the Turkish name of what is commonly known as the Gulen movement
• The movement is inspired by the teachings of Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who lives in exile in the US
• There is no formal structure but its followers are numbered in the millions

The previous day, Turkish government officials said thousands of people, including senior politicians and other leading figures, had had their telephones illegally tapped over three years with the aim to blackmail and fabricate criminal cases.

Two pro-government newspapers, Yeni Safak and Star, alleged that the taps were ordered by prosecutors said to be loyal to US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. The prosecutors have denied the accusations.

Mr Erdogan has accused Mr Gulen, his former ally, of orchestrating December's corruption investigation against key AKP figures and of trying to form "a parallel state" in Turkey.
One of the prosecutors named in the stories, Adem Ozcan, denied the allegations.

"There was definitely no monitoring or phone-tapping of thousands of politicians, writers, NGO representatives and businessmen in the framework of this dossier in the way that the newspaper stories say," he said in a statement.

A spokesman for the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) said Turkey could not continue on its path "with this dirt" and said the prime minister should step down.

Nationalist party leader Devlet Bahceli said the recordings were ``mind-blowing''.

Hundreds of protesters, mainly students, protested in Ankara on Tuesday, calling on the government to resign, Reuters news agency reports. They were dispersed by riot police with tear gas and water cannon.