The Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has started using intercepted conversations obtained from surveillance of Western embassies in Turkey in order to cash in on domestic politics.

The escalation of intrusive intelligence gathering specifically directed at Western embassies and close monitoring of US and European diplomats in Ankara was confirmed publicly by Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu on May 11. Speaking to a group of supporters in Aydın province, Soylu cited excerpts from the transcript of a closed-door meeting in a Western embassy. He did not say how he obtained the information on the content of the talks held at the embassy behind closed doors. It is likely that the intelligence agency hacked the phone of one of the attendees of the meeting or had an asset or informant within the embassy.

The revelation confirmed that police intelligence, the largest intel gathering agency in Turkey, which works under the supervision of the interior minister, managed to listen in on the meeting between foreign diplomats and opposition politicians from the Republican People’s Party( CHP). Although Soylu accused the CHP of meeting with Western diplomats to discuss domestic politics, this was the first time he talked about the content of the conversation.

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“I will cite each and every sentence you uttered. You shamelessly talked to the ambassador of a European country about how many seats you will win in 2023 [election]. Let me give you another tidbit. You talked about Çağatay Kılıç”, Soylu said about the meeting. Kılıç is head of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and previously served as an advisor to Erdoğan.

Read more: Nordic Monitor