ANKARA: Turkey has summoned the German ambassador to demand a “formal and satisfactory explanation” following reports that the country was spied on by Germany’s intelligence agency (BND).
German media reported at the weekend that the BND had not only “accidentally” listened in on phone calls made by the US secretary of state, John Kerry, and his predecessor Hillary Clinton in 2012 and 2013, but that it also — less accidentally – monitored the activities of Turkish politicians. According to news magazine Der Spiegel, the Nato member has been listed as a target for BND surveillance since 2009.
The revelations could prove much more damaging for relations with Turkey, a country for which Germany has often worked as a channel to the EU. German politicians over the last two days have tried to justify spying on Turkey in spite of its Nato membership, pointing to the terrorist risk posed by the tensions on the country’s borders with Syria and Iraq, as well as the activities of the Kurdish Workers party (PKK), which is classified as a terrorist organisation by the EU and US.
“When you’ve got three million Turks living in Germany and there are Turkish organisations in this country that are classified as terrorist associations, then I think it is only common sense to do everything to find out how they are being supported from Turkey,” Andreas Schockenhoff, a foreign policy expert for CDU, told Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
SPD politician Rolf Mützenich said the spying allegations had set back Turkish-German relations at a difficult time. “I generally consider Nato members as partners”, he told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. “Why can’t we find out what we need to know about the PKK by talking to representatives of the Turkish government?”
THE GUARDIAN
