Turkey’s main opposition leader, Özgür Özel, alleged that Justice Minister Akın Gürlek had boasted to people around him that he was secretly listening to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s phone calls, a claim that prompted a criminal investigation into Özel and a sharp denial from the minister.
Speaking on Sözcü TV, Özel said Gürlek spoke with Erdoğan on an encrypted phone line, passed along information about judicial processes and told associates, “I’m wiretapping [the calls of] Erdoğan too, they can’t do anything to me,” according to Turkish media reports that cited the interview. Özel also claimed Gürlek recorded phone calls and fed Erdoğan false information tied to the case against jailed İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu.
Within hours, the Bakırköy Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in İstanbul said it had opened an investigation into Özel on suspicion of publicly spreading misleading information, saying his televised remarks were judged capable of disturbing public order and peace.
Gürlek denied the accusations, calling them baseless slander and “an open attack” on national security. In a statement posted by the justice ministry, he said Özel was trying to cover what he called his own political exhaustion with made-up scenarios and said legal action would follow.
The clash is the latest in a long-running feud between the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and Gürlek, a former İstanbul chief public prosecutor who became justice minister in February after leading a judicial offensive against the party. As chief prosecutor, he oversaw arrests and indictments targeting CHP officials and the investigation that led to the jailing of İstanbul Mayor İmamoğlu, Erdoğan’s main political rival.
Gürlek had overseen a sweeping crackdown on the CHP, including the case in which prosecutors sought more than 2,000 years in prison for İmamoğlu. Human Rights Watch noted that the investigations into the CHP began after Gürlek was appointed İstanbul chief public prosecutor in October 2024.
Özel’s latest remarks also came after weeks of CHP accusations that Gürlek had unexplained real estate wealth. In March, Özel said Gürlek had 16 title deeds and suggested the holdings could not be explained by his salary as a longtime judge and prosecutor. Gürlek denied that accusation, saying he owned only four properties and that the documents displayed by Özel were fabricated or did not belong to him.
The new allegation raises the political stakes as it moves beyond claims of unexplained wealth or judicial misconduct and into the territory of surveillance at the top of the Turkish state. Özel said more disclosures about Gürlek would follow within one or two weeks and suggested they could be serious enough to make it impossible for him to remain in office.