What politicians say behind closed doors has come under a new wave of scrutiny in recent years—thanks to the modern world of technology, in which privacy is often more of a courtesy than a guarantee. Former U.S. President Richard Nixon, who resigned in the 1970s after the embarrassment of the Watergate scandal, found this out the hard way. And now Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party are facing a similar challenge.
Just this week, another call recording was released, between former government minister Zafer Caglayan and a business leader, Reza Zarrab. The recording of the phone conversation was placed on the Internet, and appears to capture Zarrab admitting that Caglayan complained about not getting a kickback of $13.8 million. The man believed to be Zarrab says he was "very surprised" that Caglayan did not get the money, adding that that it appears to be "a mistake,” according to an article from Middle East Online. Already, Caglayan and three other government ministers were forced from the government after a Dec. 17 police raid.
Several related call recordings have been posted on social media such as YouTube (News - Alert) and Twitter, with one recording allegedly of Erdogan “discussing hiding large sums of cash and conspiring to extort a bribe from a business associate,” Middle East Online reported.
Meanwhile, Erdogan claims some of the recordings are faked, and blames their presence on his political opponents. In addition, the Prime Minister wants to ban YouTube and Facebook (News - Alert) in Turkey.
Pictured: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, image via Liberty Voice
Erdogan has also made a statement claiming his private phone conversations were wiretapped. Of those which were maliciously edited, Erdogan blames Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish imam located in the United States. Meanwhile, Gulen denies the charges.
Earlier, an apparent recording of a call between Erdogan and his son shows Erdogan telling his son, Bilal, to get rid of large amounts of cash, as much as $1 billion, which was stored in relatives’ homes before a police raid.
In an analysis of the situation, TMC’s (News - Alert) Tracey E. Schelmetic advised, “Should they prove to have been part of a routine process of recording all calls, the lesson here [for Erdogan, his son and anyone else implicated] is that all the telephone security in the world won’t protect you if you don’t store call recordings securely.”
Even with completely legal practices, call recordings may include banking information, account numbers, information on new campaigns and credit card numbers – all of which needs to be protected. In fact, in some U.S. sectors call recordings have to be kept secure by law, such as in financial services and healthcare.
In fact, many companies now are choosing call recording solutions to protect themselves from liability and to protect any sensitive information. In fact, Schelmetic said, “Cloud-based call recording solutions providers such as SIP Print (News - Alert) can help companies limit liability by documenting verbal requests and authorizations, verifying contractual compliance and arbitrating disputes.”
Edited by Alisen Downey