TÜBİTAK official says forced to make changes to bugging device report


Date posted: February 21, 2014

İSTANBUL

The former head of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey’s (TÜBİTAK) Research Center for Advanced Technologies on Informatics and Information Security (BİLGEM) has said he was forced to make changes in a report as part of an investigation into a “bugging device” found at the prime minister’s office.

In a blistering statement over his dismissal from the top post at BİLGEM, a critical department within TÜBİTAK that prepares expert reports for court cases and state agencies, Hasan Palaz said he was forced to make changes on a scientific report that was prepared as part of a criminal investigation into the installment of bugging devices at Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s office in Parliament and his home in 2012.

The prime minister announced on a live TV program on the evening of Dec. 23, 2012 that bugging devices were found in his office in his Ankara home, but he did not specify when the devices were found. “Security units [the police] found those devices. They were placed inside the office in my house. Such things occur despite all measures taken to prevent them,” he stated.

There were earlier rumors that two listening devices had been discovered in the prime minister’s office in Parliament, and two of Erdoğan’s guards had been fired in connection with the discovery. This was followed by claims that two other bugging devices had also been found in his automobile.

Sources from the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, which spoke to the media on condition of anonymity, said an investigation had been launched into the bugs after the prime minister spoke about them in the TV program.

TÜBİTAK was tasked to examine the bugging devices and Palaz led the work on the listening devices, he said in a written statement on Thursday.

Palaz said he shared the findings with the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and the Prime Ministry. He also briefed the disciplinary board of the Prime Ministry twice about the content of the scientific report on the listening devices. Two years after the inquiry, Palaz said he was asked to change the date when the bugging device started functioning.

Facing unethical and political pressure to changes details in a scientific document, which was prepared in line with scientific norms, Palaz said his conscience and respect for the profession did not allow him bow to political whims and directives to tamper with findings.

Palaz said he faced threats of dismissal from the post if he failed to comply with the demand to make the changes to the report, and after Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergün was replaced by Fikri Işık, those threats turned into a reality.

He was sacked as chair of BİLGEM and still faces pressure to resign from TÜBİTAK, where he has worked for 24 years. Instead of preparing politically motivated reports that lack scientific quality and impartiality to meet the demands of politicians, Palaz said his respect for the profession keeps him out of political wrangling and bickering that could kill science.

In a stern warning, he said the government’s interference in TÜBİTAK reports and politicians’ meddling in scientific inquiries would be suicide for the science world.

The discovery of the bugging devices led to an outcry and fueled a debate over who is responsible for monitoring and bugging the prime minister’s office.

When the allegations turned into full-blown recriminations and raging debates in Parliament over culpability regarding the installment of the devices, pro-government circles and media pointed to some organizations within civil society. According to allegations, the bugging device found in the prime minister’s office was placed there by individuals close to the Hizmet movement. The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) on Aug. 13, 2013, said it condemned such accusations and called for the judiciary and the government to take the necessary action in the bugging device controversy.

Source: Todays Zaman , February 20, 2014


Related News

Kids with Down syndrome suffer from major health problems in absence of jailed teacher father

M.O., a dismissed teacher and father of two kids with 92 and 98 percent disability ratings, has reportedly been kept in an Antalya prison for almost 4 months over alleged links to the Gülen movement. “We did not do anything wrong. My kids are 9 and 4 years old. We have no income, no job and no insurance. Nothing,” his wife said.

Conceptual contradictions when it comes to rhetoric about ‘parallel state’

.In the wake of the Dec. 17 corruption operations that took place in Turkey, the government removed and changed such an extraordinarily high number of people from their positions in the police force, the justice system and the national education structure that these changes certainly would not have been possible in a state of law. An attempt was made to see these changes happen within the framework of heavy propaganda about the concept of the existence of a “parallel state.”

Bill Clinton on Fethullah Gulen’s Contribution to the World

Fethullah Gulen, the Gulen Movement (aka the Hizmet Movement), and their contributions to the world peace were recognized by 42nd U.S. President Bill Clinton. Hon. Bill Clinton delivered his remarks at the 3rd Annual Friendship Dinner by Turkish Cultural Center, New York City. President Clinton offered his thanks to the Gülen Movement for contributions to […]

Ali Bulac: Gulen movement wants to participate in the globalization

Just like the Seljuks and the Ottomans emerged and spread to the Balkans and the Middle East, the Gulen movement repeats the same experience in a different form – by participating in globalization. Globalization shakes the nation-state, dissolves society. The Gulen movement, despite being part of globalization, also protects the individual from the resulting side effects.

Malaysia detains Turkish academic second time at Turkey’s request

İsmet Özçelik, a Turkish academic with a UNHCR refugee card, was detained again on Thursday in Malaysia amid news that two other Turkish citizens who were believed to have been kidnapped were in fact detained by the authorities.

Pro-gov’t daily repeats Bharara controlled by Gülen movement, calls him ‘stupid’

One of the staunchly pro-government newspapers in Turkey, the Star, daily has repeated earlier claims about a US attorney, saying that he is controlled by the faith-based Gülen movement and “stupid.”

Latest News

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Feds don’t see extradition for Turkish cleric [Mr. Gulen]

Turkish, Russian businessmen convene at forum

NGO: plot to take over Turkish schools will fail in Africa

Abduction of Kacmaz family – An act of high-handedness

Turkey Coup: Fethulah Gulen Is Not A Terrorist

Unlawful acts revealed in police raids on Gülen-inspired schools

Prof. John L. Esposito’s keynote at the Gulen Movement conference, Chicago

Copyright 2024 Hizmet News