All eyes on Sarıyer Attorney General’s Office on phone tapping

This was an altogether separate file than the approximately 820 million Turkish Liras tax penalty the same officer had assessed in connection with the sale of shares by DMG to Axel Springer in 2006-2007. Notice of the 820 million lira penalty had been given about three weeks later, on Feb. 17.

The pretext behind the objection was the fact that the officer had assessed VAT on certain stock sales by DMG. Sale of shares is defined as an absolute and definite exception in terms of VAT in the Tax Code. But the inspector had a different opinion.

Minister of Finance Unakıtan, upon hearing Gedik, said: "I guess you better talk the matter over with Mehmet Akif. You two then come to me next Tuesday, and we’ll look into the matter." Mehmet Akif Ulusoy was the head of the Revenue Administration of the Ministry of Finance at the time.Unakıtan then instructed his chief of Cabinet to include the Gedik-Ulusoy appointment in his schedule on Tuesday Feb. 3; the Minister, however, was unable to make it to the ministry at all during the next week due to health reasons, and all of his appointments were cancelled. After Unakıtan flew to the United States for bypass surgery on February 10, this appointment never took place.

Upon the minister’s signal, Gedik called Ulusoy before he left Ankara. Nevertheless, Ulusoy’s schedule was full for the day; he said, "You return to Istanbul, we’ll talk over the phone in the evening" to Gedik. They spoke on a mobile phone around 8 p.m. in the evening. They were completely unaware of the fact that some curious eavesdroppers were tapping their entire conversation from start to finish. Gedik mentioned that Unakıtan had told him to talk the matter over with Mehmet Akif in the beginning of the conversation, and relayed the issue to the head of the Revenue Administration.

Both the audio recording and the transcript of this very conversation appeared on certain Web sites on Feb. 24, almost a month later. Certain papers and TV stations published and aired this conversation word for word. What’s interesting is, the "big ear" had completely edited away the opening portion of the conversation with Gedik’s words to the effect that he was calling Ulusoy upon the request, and with full knowledge of the minister of finance. Even more interesting is the airing of the Gedik-Ulusoy tape on the Internet about a week after DMG had been notified of the 820 million lira tax penalty on Feb. 17. Consequently, everyone would associate this conversation with the 820 million lira tax penalty. While, however, this conversation was taking place on Jan. 29, the 820 million lira tax penalty had not yet been assessed.

Conversation snagged in technical surveillance

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was among those most infuriated by this conversation. Head of the Revenues Administration Ulusoy was assigned to Turkish Cyprus as a financial adviser a couple of days later. Erdoğan made no secret that he himself had instructed the order for the assignment. The assignment meant a demotion. Not accepting this sanction, Ulusoy requested to retire from the ministry. About 10 days after the Gedik-Ulusoy tape was leaked out on Feb. 24, Prime Minister Erdoğan made an interesting statement on the evening of March 4. Erdoğan’s exact words during his interview on Kral FM were as follows:

"Look, quite a few things surfaced recently. Snagging up on technical surveillance, etc, as you know, were made public in certain newspapers, Web sites. These are the sort of issues that bother us. And, who is establishing what contacts with whom, see, these are coming out. While these are surfacing, who knows whatever took place in the past? There was of course a privileged atmosphere until today. Now that these privileges are no longer, problems are being experienced. I mean, if you have faith in your dealings, why are you bothered?"

The prime minister, as it will become quite evident, is bothered not by the fact that the Ulusoy-Gedik conversation had leaked to the press, but rather by content of the conversation. What is more interesting is the fact that the prime minister has said that the conversation has been "snagged up in technical surveillance." "Technical surveillance" is used for the legal tapping activities the state carries out, in government speak. While it is easily noticeable in the prime minister’s statement, there is nothing to express or imply that this in fact is an illegal eavesdropping. On the contrary, it is almost as if there a certain level of gladness for being privy to this conversation. On the heels of Erdoğan’s words, the March 5 edition of Milliyet came out with the "Admitted to eavesdropping" headline. The story spot read, "The fact that the conversation between DMG Vice President Gedik and Head of Revenues Administration Ulusoy, which was leaked on the Internet after the tax penalty levied against DMG was recorded by state authorities, has been determined in no uncertain terms with the prime minister’s ’they were snagged in technical surveillance’ statement."

Prime Ministry press adviser Kemal Öztürk, in a statement sent to Milliyet the next day, said the paper spun the prime minister’s words, and such an action aimed to "mislead the public." The statement went as follows: "The honorable prime minister’s ’snagged in surveillance’ expression identifies the fact that tapping is carried out by unidentified bodies, not that state organizations are involved in illegal tapping. Moreover, even thinking that the prime minister of Turkey would tolerate illegal tapping would defy logic."

Thus the Prime Ministry was shedding light on these words the prime minister had said on Kral FM, and telling us that the prime minister had meant an illegal tapping with the phrase "snagged in technical surveillance." Milliyet published this statement in its entirety the next day on the first page, announcing it with a three column sub headline at the top.

Could have leaked from within the gov't

We are in a position to accept this statement by the Prime Ministry as the truth. However, the issue is far from over at this point. For the reasons explained below: Soner Gedik filed claims with courts having jurisdiction over this matter for damages from newspapers that have published the phone conversation. Gedik’s petitions were accepted by the prosecutor’s office, and the court proceedings were officially initiated. Gedik also filed official complaints for having his phones tapped. Consequently, the Sarıyer Attorney General’s office initiated an investigation. The said investigation is currently under way.Of those who welcome this investigation carried out by the Sarıyer Attorney General’s office is Fethi Şimşek, the head of the Telecommunications Communication Bureau, or TIB, in charge of auditing and coordinating the official listening activities of the state. The head of TIB, while acknowledging that he welcomes the fact that this investigation started on CNN Türk on May 22, also implied that the Gedik-Ulusoy tape might have leaked from within the government, as well. Look at what Şimşek had to say:

"It would be quite presumptuous to state ’There have been no leaks’ regarding the leakage of phone taps audited by the TIB to the press. It helps to accept the fact that mistakes could be made in areas where there is a human factor. Among the taps characterized as leaks, the single most important case is the conversation between DMG Vice President Gedik and former head of the Revenue Administration Ulusoy that was leaked to the press. I do not know what sort of a listening this is, whether it is legal or not, whether it has been recorded via a recording system large organizations establish within their own systemsÉ We are happy to see that the Sarıyer Attorney General’s office has initiated an investigation. We are expecting to see the results with a keen interest, as well."

A rather interesting discrepancy is before us now. The Prime Ministry spokesman said "an illegal tapping," while the officer in charge of the state listening organization said, "I do not know whether it is legal or not. Mistakes can be made where there are humans." While one talks categorically and closes the door, the other feels a need to leave the door open. There is no doubt that the traces of all procedures for all citizens whose phones are tapped via legal permission are recorded in three separate state organizations, A) The prosecutor’s office requesting the tap, B) The judge’s office consenting to the tap, and C) The Communications Bureau approving the tap. Examining these records shall no doubt help bring the facts regarding whether or not the Gedik-Ulusoy conversation was in fact an official recording to light.The investigation carried out by the Sarıyer Attorney General’s office has become even more significant from this standpoint.

* Sedat Ergin is the editor-in-chief of the daily Milliyet.