Phone taps for blackmailing?

With that, Turkey has focused on to phone tapping again. The court’s ruling, in a way, is stripping off the authority to monitor phone calls from the prime minister’s control. All right but who will then control the monitoring? Or let me rephrase the question better: Is it possible to keep phone tapping under control?

It seems that it is possible to prevent the legal ones but this is not possible for illegal monitoring because even Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım says: "Individuals who do not want to be eavesdropped should not make phone calls."

At this point, a Parliamentary Eavesdropping Investigation committee member and the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, Adana deputy, Tacidar Seyhan, who is at the same time an expert in information technologies, says: "You gave me a radio I will assemble tapping equipment for you."

Seyhan asserts that some "civilian teams" that are formed outside official security forces of the country monitor phones for blackmail purposes. Ten mobile monitoring devices worth 20,000 euros to be used for this very same purpose were confiscated at the last minute in Istanbul Customs recently, reminds Seyhan saying that many devices not confiscated are being used by "civilians."

"Mobile monitoring is made possible through computer software. Eavesdropping devices in Turkey are also used by others in addition to public institutions and officials. This shouldn’t be tolerated. Who did want to bring in the devices caught at customs? This should be found out. Security forces and political circles are being monitored by the unauthorized. You name them either mafia or unofficial individuals or groups. They are instilling similar devices to the country and use them for blackmail." These claims are creepyÉ Seyhan adds that illegal eavesdropping should be prosecuted.

"This is the only way to prevent civilians to stop monitoring phone calls and this could be achieved only by an institutional structure. Such an entity should control these devices and prevent their illegal entry to the country. Legal measures should immediately be launched against those responsible," warns Seyhan.

As far as I know, there is not a single civil servant or a civilian who was sentenced for monitoring or recording phone calls. Seyhan claiming that there is a "monitoring device" at the service of the Prime Ministry says, "Monitoring requires legal permission.

The Prime Ministry cannot have such a device." Seyhan’s claims make the court’s decision a bit more important. Could the legal process prevent phone tapping in real life? According to Seyhan, this seems not possibleÉ

SECOND ARTICLE

Erdoğan’s bedside reading material

Erdoğan asked to have a book titled "History of Democracy in Turkey," by Tevfik Çavdar from the library that was recently opened by the research and development department of the governing Justice and Development Party, or AKP. It is quite interesting for Mr. Prime Minister to have a bedside book on "history of democracy." The author of this book is equally interesting because Çavdar in the late 1980s was involved in politics with the late leader of the Socialist People’s Party, or SHP, Erdal İnönü. Çavdar is writing article in the "Sol" (Left) magazine recently. Erdoğan’s view on the left is known and he is making remarks such as "They are communists" to criticize the Republican People’s Party, or CHP, staff who are continuation of the Social Democratic People’s Party, or SHP, today.

A commission chair of the AKP, who heard that Erdoğan asked Çavdar’s book, laughing at the backstage said "He wanted to read the history of democracy written by the other side."

THIRD ARTICLE

Coping with crisis

The global crisis wreaks havoc on the world. Turkey is seriously affected by that too. Sectors are developing measures to prevent themselves. Clues about how tourism could be affected by the crisis keep coming in. Number of reservations is quite low compared to previous years. So Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğral Günay has developed a project to prevent unemployment in the tourism sector. He named it the "dead season" project. Tourism agencies or individuals who are running a tourism business will not be able to lay off staff. So, Günay made a recommendation to the Cabinet to cover insurance premiums of workers in the sector. Erdoğan is said to be entertaining the idea. We’ll see if Günay’s project succeeds.