A criminal case has been filed against nine police officers, including two police chiefs and a retired officer, who have been charged as part of a massive probe into illegal wiretapping.
A criminal case has been filed against nine police officers, including two police chiefs and a retired officer, who have been charged as part of a massive probe into illegal wiretapping, the public prosecutor's office of the southern Turkish province of Adana has said.
The case was filed on Monday on the grounds of forgery of official documents, slander, illegal wiretapping and recording, violation of private life and the recording of personal data.
Wiretapping scandals have made headlines in Turkey since Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in late 2012 that a "bug" had been found in his office.
Turkey's daily newspapers published in late February a list of 7,000 people, including Prime Minister Erdogan, whose phones had been allegedly wiretapped for three years under the Anti-Terrorism Act by two prosecutors from the Istanbul Court.
In the meantime, some of Turkey's biggest unions continue to insist on holding the May Day rally at Istanbul’s Taksim Square despite Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s refusal to gather at the site.
Speaking at Taksim, Gursel Tekin, vice-chairman of Republican People's Party (CHP) said he was in the square for moral support and CHP will be in Taksim on May Day.
The unions, including DISK (Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions), TURK-IS (Turkey Workers Union) and KESK (Confederation of Public Workers' Union) had insisted on marching at Taksim Square but were stopped by security forces last year.
The chairman stated that the union is not against other squares for gatherings but pointed out that, “We have to hold 1 May rally at Taksim due to the 1977 incident.”
On May 1, 1977 while some 500,000 people gathered in Taksim Square to celebrate Labor Day, unidentified gunmen fired on the peaceful crowd.
Thirty-six people died in the riots and fighting that followed. Taksim Square remained closed to Labor Day protests after 1977 incident until 2010.
