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Wiretap recordings of Turkey's Erdogan seized in Istanbul Police Department

Xinhua, February 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Wiretap recordings featuring Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior officials have been seized inside Istanbul Police Department, Turkish daily Hurriyet reported Monday.

The recordings were caught in police raids last July, in which two hard disks were found in Istanbul Anti-Terror Department, said the report.

The disks contained recordings for 101 officials, including then Prime Minister Erdogan, then head of National Intelligence Organisation Hakan Fidan and current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

On Sunday, 21 police officers were arrested over charges of wiretapping Erdogan and other top officials.

The arrests came in a fresh wave of raids which focused on Istanbul but also took place in some western Black Sea cities.

Turkish police carried out numerous raids on former top police officials over the same charges in the past few months.

The authorities blame Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based preacher and Erdogan's arch foe, for masterminding a plot to topple the elected Turkish government via his supporters in the judiciary, police and other institutions.

Prime Minister Davutoglu on Saturday criticized Gulen's Feb. 3 article in the New York Times, in which he blasted the Turkish government.

A red notice is expected to be issued by the Interpol to arrest Gulen, who is accused of leading a criminal organization, while the Turkish government expects the United States to extradite him in accordance with bilateral treaties. Endit