Ukraine in Arabic | Turkey is angered by the fact of German surveillance
KYIV/Ukraine in arabic/ Turkey is among the countries watched closely by the German foreign intelligence (BND), which uses there a whole variety of means of surveillance, including wiretapping, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper. At the same time, Der Spiegel magazine said Berlin had identified Ankara as a top surveillance target, citing a 2009 government document.
The German authorities said that Turkey cannot be compared to other European partners of Germany, such as France or the UK, because the events in Turkey have a direct impact on Germany’s internal security because of a huge Turkish diaspora of the country.
Earlier on Aug. 18, Turkey has summoned Germany’s ambassador over the allegations.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry Ahmet Davutoglu described the weekend report as absolutely unacceptable, if true. "It is expected that the German authorities will present an official and satisfactory explanation on the claims reported by German media and end these activities immediately if the claims are true," it said in a statement.
Berlin declined to comment about surveillance on Turkey or reports in Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and two broadcasters that the BND had "accidentally" overheard phone calls by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton.
Last October, after reports surfaced that the United States had been monitoring her mobile phone, Merkel said that "spying among friends is not at all acceptable".
The chancellor, asked about the spying reports during a visit to Latvia on Monday, said she could not comment on the activities of the intelligence services and made clear that her comment about spying on friends had been made with the special context of the German-American relationship in mind.
Turkey’s largest trading partner in the EU is NATO ally Germany.
