IZMIR
The prosecutor's office referred 14 policemen detained in an illegal wiretapping probe during a recent police operation to court Friday, demanding their formal arrest.
A total of 24 police officers had been detained as part of the latest police operation, out of whom 10 were released Friday.
Izmir’s prosecutor office had issued warrants Tuesday for suspected 26 policemen in Izmir and other provinces, including the capital Ankara and Istanbul, on charges of being involved in an illegal wiretapping case.
The number of detained suspects reached to 24 after two more policemen surrendered to authorities Thursday, officials said.
Resul Tunckir, a lawyer defending a suspected police chief, said his client would surrender later due to his health problems. Efforts to detain other senior police officers at large would continue, officials said.
The office launched the operation after receiving complaints from citizens that their communications were illegally intercepted by, what the Turkish government calls, the "parallel state."
The detained suspects were charged of "forming an organization to commit crime, forgery of official documents, fabricating crimes, slender, breaching private life and recording personal data."
According to the Izmir governorate, 92 people, including high-ranking army officers, academics, senior policemen and journalists, were illegally wiretapped between 2009 and 2013.
This is not the first time such an operation to detain suspects in the case has been launched in the country.
Earlier in 2014, a similar operation was launched in Izmir and 13 other provinces in which 32 suspects were detained after a newspaper story revealed that several public servants were being illegally wiretapped. All the suspects were later released by the court pending trial.
To date, hundreds of police officers have been detained and questioned in the alleged wiretapping probe.
The ongoing operations follow a December 2013 probe which led to the arrest of several high-profile figures, including the sons of three former government ministers and leading business people. All those detained in the operation were later released pending trial.
The government has blamed the wiretapping case on the Gulen movement, led by U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, and his alleged parallel state of attempting to infiltrate the Turkish state.
The parallel state, according to the government, refers to an alleged group of Turkish bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and the police who are working to undermine the sitting Turkish government.
The Gulen movement denies all charges.
