ABTTF President: “This scandal has become a problem of democracy and the rule of law for our country, while once again exposing the power of the deep state over democracy. The Turkish community in Western Thrace, which the deep state perceives as a threat and danger to national security, is marginalised in our country’s politics and in the Greek mainstream media as a result of an official policy based on the denial of our ethnic Turkish identity; its leading representatives and associations are being targeted and stigmatised”.
Debates continue regarding the full clarification of the scandal that emerged following the illegal wiretapping of Nikos Androulakis, leader of the opposition party PASOK-KINAL and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), and journalist Thanasis Koukakis using the “Predator” spyware program.
Following the One-member Magistrates’ Court of Athens ruling which found four defendants guilty in the wiretapping scandal case, Androulakis sent a letter to the Speaker of the Greek Parliament Nikitas Kaklamanis, demanding an urgent general debate on the rule of law and the functioning of institutions in the country. In his letter, Androulakis called on Mitsotakis to account to the public for this parallel state structure, noting that this democratic crisis—which is even being debated in the European Parliament—cannot be met with further silence in the Greek Parliament.
During the European Parliament’s plenary session on 11 March 2026, the state of the rule of law in Greece was also discussed in the context of the conviction handed down in the case involving the “Predator” spyware. Members of the European Parliament (MEP) from opposition parties in Greece who spoke during the debate noted that the court’s conviction of four private individuals refuted the government’s conspiracy theory claims and indicated that the government had systematically attempted to cover up the wiretapping scandal through the judicial process and parliamentary committees.
“In our country, Greece, the wiretapping scandal—one of the most glaring examples of the systematic and institutional violations of the rule of law that have been on the rise in recent years, and which has even been brought directly before the European Parliament’s Plenary—reveals that, no matter how much the government denies its responsibility, the truth can no longer be concealed. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the government bear primary responsibility for the wiretapping scandal. This scandal has once again exposed the power of the deep state in our country and has become a matter of democracy and the rule of law for us. The Turkish community in Western Thrace, which the deep state perceives as a threat and danger to national security, is marginalised in our country’s politics and in the Greek mainstream media as a result of an official policy based on the denial of our ethnic Turkish identity; its leading representatives and associations are being targeted and stigmatised. To ensure a genuine democratic transformation and the establishment of the rule of law by neutralising the power of the deep state in our country, it is crucial that this wiretapping scandal be fully exposed in all its aspects’’, said Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF).
*Image: www.anadoluimages.com
