İstanbul Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Fikret Seçen has said National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, his predecessor, Emre Taner, and MİT Deputy Undersecretary Afet Güneş were summoned to testify in an ongoing KCK probe.

Seçen's statements on Wednesday followed reports that emerged late on Tuesday that İstanbul Specially Authorized Prosecutor Sadrettin Sarıkaya had summoned Fidan, Güneş and Taner to testify as suspect as part of the investigation into the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), an umbrella group that allegedly encompasses the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Reports said the three became suspects following recently exposed talks they had with members of the PKK in Oslo.

Commenting on the reports, İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Turan Çolakkadı said earlier on Wednesday that he had no information with regards to the alleged move by prosecutor Sarıkaya.

“If any prosecutor at the İstanbul Public Prosecutor's Office has made such a request, I should have been informed about that. Unless I have such information, it cannot be true that those people were summoned to testify,” he said.

However, Seçen confirmed later in the day that the three were summoned to deliver their testimonies over the phone, adding that they were invited to the Beşiktaş Courthouse on Thursday. However, he refused to respond to questions on whether the three were suspects in the case or not.

An almost 50-minute voice recording was leaked late last year which revealed that Fidan had attended a meeting with the PKK in Oslo as the “special envoy of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.” At the time, Fidan was serving as deputy undersecretary at the Prime Ministry and had not yet been appointed head of MİT.

Deputy Undersecretary Güneş represented the intelligence organization at the meeting. Senior PKK leaders Mustafa Karasu, Sabit Ok and Zübeyr Aydar met with government representatives under the mediation of a representative from an unknown “coordinator country.”

Cihan