Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) has announced that covert listening devices, widely known as "bugs", have been found in its İstanbul Provincial Organization building in Tarlabaşı, Taksim. HDP Parliamentary Group Deputy Chair Saruhan Oluç and HDP İstanbul Co-Chairs Elif Bulut and Erdal Avcı held a press conference about the issue today (December 8).

 

According to the statement of the party, after its İstanbul office was searched, listening devices were found in different rooms of the office.

 

Sharing details about the rooms where the "bugs" were found, the HDP has said that they were found in the workrooms of İstanbul Co-Chairs, workrooms of women's and youth branches and in the meeting hall.

 

"The crime techs were primarily found behind sockets and in the lamps and one of them was found in a triple socket," the statement has said.

 

THEY WERE PLACED ILLEGALLY

 

"How were these crime techs that require serious technical efforts placed in our İstanbul building?", the party has asked further and added:

 

"This actually brings several questions to minds. First, we would like to ask these questions. The first question is about how these crime techs that require very serious technical efforts were placed."

 

In answering this question, the HDP has said, "In unlawful raids, security forces place covert listening devices in our provincial buildings. It is not limited to our building in İstanbul, it is also the case for our other provincial buildings. It happened in our Van provincial building a few weeks ago; it had also happened in our Diyarbakır provincial building."

 

Reiterating that the HDP provincial offices are "raided unlawfully", the party has further indicated that "security forces enter its provincial buildings without the company of HDP provincial executives, village or neighbourhood heads or lawyers and place the criminal techs" in question.

 

According to the HDP, it is not only about listening devices "as they also place notebooks and lists" in the related buildings. "These are listening devices, but they also put other things," the statement has read further.

 

"We know that other things were placed in our Diyarbakır provincial building, we saw it. We took legal action. That is how they put various notebooks and lists in our provincial buildings," the HDP has said.

 

WHO DID THIS?

 

Moving on to the second question, the party has asked who might be placing these devices. "There are two institutions in Turkey that can do something as professional as this: One of them is the Ministry of Interior and the Security Intelligence affiliated with it and the other one ise the National Intelligence," the HDP has noted, adding that they will file a criminal complaint against the related institutions in the upcoming days.

 

Further in its statement, the HDP has drawn a parallel between what they face now with the methods of the "parallel structure," which is held accountable for the military coup attempt in 2016.

 

"We are faced with a Ministry of Interior that follows the methods of the parallel structure," the statement has read.

 

Reiterating that the HDP has been "faced with a government and a Ministry of Interior that are using the methods of the parallel structure", the party has concluded its statement in following words:

 

"Do you know what all these developments and crime techs show us once again? They show that there is no more law, no more rule of law in Turkey. Turkey does not have the freedom or safety to do politics. Those who placed these crime techs in our provincial buildings have been committing a constitutional crime. We will file a criminal complaint this week."