29 police officers detained as part of illegal wiretappings

Turkish police have discovered the wiretapped recordings of 101 high-profile persons, including the president and the prime minister, on two hard disks located in the Istanbul anti-terror department, as 29 police officers have been detained as part of a similar operation on Feb. 8.

Chief Public Prosecutor Hadi Saliho?lu said in a written statement on Feb. 9 that 29 suspects have been detained on charges of "establishing and managing a terror organization, being a member of the terror organization and political and military spying as part of a terror organization," after police discovered the wiretapped recordings of 101 high-profile people, including academics, ambassadors, civil servants and politicians, between 2010 and 2013.

Two hard disks containing the recordings were reportedly found in the offices of the Istanbul anti-terror unit. The recordings, which were supposed to be deleted after the end of the prosecutions, have never been deleted, according to an examination.

The Istanbul prosecutor's office said police officers had begun a "mock" investigation into the Selam-Tevhid organization, wiretapping 251 people since 2010. It ordered the examination of the hard disks and computers seized from the offices of these police officers.

With the new evidence gathered from the hard disks, the prosecutors instructed the police to begin a new operation.

Istanbul police began this operation on Feb. 8 in which a total of 29 police officers were detained on Feb. 9. Police chief Gafur Ataç, who took former Chief of Staff ?lker Ba?bu? into Silivri Prison when he was arrested as part of the Ergenekon coup plot case, was among the police officers detained on Feb. 9.

Meanwhile, anti-terror department police chiefs Yurt...