ANKARA
Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister urged citizens Friday to act as one for national security, after a video revealing eavesdropping on a high-level security meeting was posted on Youtube.
“This is not just a matter of politics; this is a matter of national security,” Taner Yildiz said. “All opposition parties and citizens must react as one.”
Speaking to the private Turkish news channel Haberturk, Yildiz said the government had chosen to temporarily block Youtube for national security purposes.
He stressed that common sense among the public has been increasing since the video’s release Thursday, as more people recognize it as an attack on political stability rather than just the ruling AK Party.
The video on YouTube showed that the meeting - between Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, intelligence chief Hakan Fidan, the armed forces’ second commander, Yasar Guler, and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu - was spied on as they discussed possible threats to sovereign Turkish territory in Syria’s Aleppo Governorate.
The tomb of Suleyman Shah is in Turkish territory according to international law and is currently under threat due to the rise in fighting between the Syrian opposition and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL, in the area.
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