Print version Email to a friend

Turkish security service rejects summons over PKK talks

Thu, 9 Feb 2012 15:08 GMT

Source: reuters // Reuters

* Prosecutors probing links between Kurdish activists and PKK

* Intelligence agents held talks with PKK

* Spy agency says permission must be sought from Erdogan

* Clashes with PKK in southeast Turkey kill 14 people (Adds intelligence agency statement)

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL, Feb 9 (Reuters) - The national intelligence agency controlled by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rebuffed a demand from state prosecutors that it answer questions on Thursday about secret talks it held with Kurdish rebels, media reports said.

Hakan Fidan was personally appointed by Erdogan as head of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT). The summons, a very rare imposition for the powerful agency, has raised speculation in political parties and media that police and judiciary could be under the sway of factions competing with Erdogan for influence.

At the heart of the current investigation are talks which MIT officials held with PKK representatives in Oslo and which came to light last year through recordings on the internet. Opposition parties accuse the government of seeking a secret peace accord and said the summons revealed a power struggle.

"The developments in the National Intelligence Agency, police and judiciary axis create the impression of a power struggle," said Erdogan Toprak, deputy chairman of the main opposition CHP party.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said he saw no evidence of MIT having done anything wrong in the contacts or in infiltrating the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

"What I see here, looking at the recent developments, is that no crimes were committed, that a duty was carried out," Bozdag told reporters in parliament.

"It is the organization's primary duty to infiltrate the terrorist organizations and gather information," he added.

MIT challenged the summons in a statement to prosecutors, saying they did not have the authority to make such a demand.

"Permission must be sought from the prime minister's office. The matters in question are related to (MIT) duties. The investigation must be sent to Ankara," broadcaster NTV reported the intelligence agency statement as saying.

Officials were not immediately for comment.

Media reports said prosecutors wanted to ask about the intelligence agency's infiltration of the PKK and how that had affected the state's fight against the militants.

Erdogan's government has reined in the power of the military and pushed through reforms in the judiciary that some critics see as part of an attempt to consolidate his government's power -- something the prime minister denies. Factional rivalries have become endemic in the power structure of the Turkish state.

The call to question the intelligence chief is the latest in a series of judicial investigations that have shocked Turkey after the detention of many senior military figures in connection with alleged plots to overthrow the government.

A former head of the military, General Ilker Basbug, is awaiting trial for alleged coup plotting. Many other top officers are among hundreds charged in conspiracy cases related to an alleged nationalist network called Ergenekon that aimed to topple the ruling AK Party because of its Islamist roots.

President Abdullah Gul met Fidan at the presidential palace in Ankara on Thursday and was to seee Erdogan afterwards for what were billed as regular weekly talks.

POLICE OFFICERS REMOVED

The prosecutor wants to question the spy chief under a broader investigation into links between Kurdish activists and the separatist PKK. Hundreds of people have already been charged in related cases.

"Arm wrestling between two states," said a headline in Taraf newspaper, alluding to the apparent rivalry between MIT on one side and the police force and prosecutors on the other.

After the prosecutor's move to summon Fidan, two senior police officers handling the Kurdish militant investigation were removed from their posts in Istanbul, in what Taraf suggested was a government response to the prosecutor's call.

"The power struggle in Ankara has more than one layer; since the army is relatively out of sight for now, the factions within the security and judiciary apparatus might be attempting to have more say on the new order in the Turkish capital," said Hurriyet Daily News editor Murat Yetkin.

More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the PKK took up arms in 1984. It is branded a terrorist group by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.

It has long been known that MIT held talks with PKK representatives. Erdogan himself has repeatedly said such talks were held, but stressed that it was the "state" and not the "government" which was involved in them.

Talks between the state and PKK representatives were halted after Erdogan's AK Party won a third term in office last June with around 50 percent of the votes.

MIT is directly under the control of the prime minister and Erdogan has previously expressed strong support for Fidan when recordings on the PKK talks first emerged.

Former MIT chief Emre Taner and his deputy Afet Gunes have also been summoned to answer questions, according to deputy chief prosecutor Fikret Secen. (Writing by Daren Butler)