Turkey's Erdogan denies government tapped judges' phones

17/11/2009

ANKARA, Turkey -- Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday (November 16th) rejected claims that his government illegally tapped the telephones of senior magistrates. Media reported last week that government representatives have tapped conversations of several senior court officials and have tried to tap the phones of the Turkish Court of Cassation. Government officials purportedly suspected the magistrates were involved in a plot to topple the cabinet. "No step has been made without a court decision," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara. Chief prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalcinkaya has launched an investigation. (Hurriyet, DPA, ITAR-TASS - 16/11/09)