Turkey elections: Interior minister alludes to spying on German embassy

Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Thursday that his security forces eavesdropped on a conversation between an EU ambassador and a senior Turkish opposition official, indicating Ankara has been spying on an allied country. 

Soylu said he met the interior minister of that ambassador’s country in November.

At that time, Soylu met his German counterpart Nancy Faeser, indicating that his forces had been listening in on Germany’s ambassador. 

The revelation came as Soylu accused the opposition coalition, known as the Table of Six, of working with foreign powers against the elected government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey is scheduled to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 14 May.

Soylu alleged Unal Cevikoz, a chief foreign policy advisor to the opposition’s joint presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, last year met the EU ambassador at their embassy to discuss the first meeting of the Table of Six alliance, which took place on 12 February 2022.

“They sent Unal Cevikoz on behalf of the Table of Six to this European ambassador,” Soylu said during a live broadcast on NTV on Thursday.

“He didn’t go there only for a simple meeting but to get corrections and get the ambassador’s views on [the Table of Six coalition agreement]. They talked about the future modalities.”

"Our target wasn't him"

Soylu said it was the Turkish state’s primary task to track people who spy against Turkey. He added that it is legitimate for all countries and states around the world to protect themselves when foreign powers resort to espionage.  

“Why should we tap Mr Cevikoz? Our target wasn’t him. It isn’t a phone call, I’m talking about his visit to an embassy and his conversation at the embassy,” he said.

Soylu said that he raised the issue with said EU country’s interior minister when they visited Turkey in November.

“I told the interior minister that their ambassador held a meeting with Unal Cevikoz and this is the conversation they had,” Soylu said. “But the minister didn’t object nor ask me about how I got this information.”

'As an honourable diplomat of this country who has served in critical positions, I want to underline that espionage is a crime'

- Unal Cevikoz, opposition advisor

Last year, the Yeni Safak daily newspaper made similar allegations against the German embassy, claiming that the German ambassador gave instructions to Cevikoz.

Asked about Soylu’s allegations, the German embassy in Ankara pointed to a statement it made last year on Yeni Safak’s report.

“The allegations about the German embassy in the article are completely unfounded,” it said at the time.

Cevikoz, in a separate statement on Thursday, said that Soylu’s allegations were far from the truth.

"Ugly manipulations"

“The related allegation is entirely baseless and untrue. Such allegations exemplify ugly manipulations made for a political purpose before the elections,” he said. “These allegations have been made before and were rejected by our party that day.”

Cevikoz reiterated that he is a former ambassador who served the Turkish state for decades.

“As an honourable diplomat of this country who has served in critical positions, I want to underline that espionage is a crime and is never acceptable,” he said.

Engin Ozkoc, a senior official at the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told NTV that Cevikoz would sue Soylu over the allegations.

Kilicdaroglu said on Thursday night that Soylu should release the alleged recording.

“We don't do anything in secret. We come together with EU ambassadors and answer their questions. We have a foreign policy advisory board,” Kilicdaroglu said. “Soylu must release the tape.”