I briefed Turkish PM in person, arrested police officer claims

Yurt Atayün, the former head of the Istanbul anti-terror police department, has told an Istanbul court that he personally briefed the prime minister on faulty intel that was used in operations against the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Atayün is among the 49 suspected officers that were detained in Istanbul on July 22, as part of an operation over the alleged illegal wiretapping of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his inner circle.

“I do not remember the date exactly. But I submitted in person the briefing on the MİT [National Intelligence Agency] members who were involved in crimes as part of the KCK operations at a meeting that was attended by Istanbul Governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, Istanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan,” he said, adding that the meeting was at the Sabiha Gökçen Airport in Istanbul.

“During my period of duty, I used to submit the information on the Ergenekon and PKK-KCK operations sometimes directly to Istanbul Police Chief Hüseyin Çapkın and his deputies. Our Istanbul Chief Hüseyin Çapkın submitted the information to the prime minster on the negligence of operations carried out by MİT members who were involved in crimes,” Atayün said.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) hurried the law in question through Parliament in February, 2013, when a prosecutor wanted to summon Turkey’s MİT head Hakan Fidan and three other top MİT officials for the Oslo talks. The meetings were conducted in secret between the AKP and some senior PKK operatives between 2009 and 2011 in Oslo, Norway, in the hope of finding a...