February 8, 2012 - 12:49 AMT
Turkey's National Intelligence head summoned as suspect in KCK case

Istanbul public prosecutor's office called in the chief of Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MİT), Hakan Fidan, to testify as a suspect in the ongoing case into the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), Hürriyet Daily News reported.

Fidan's predecessor, former MİT Undersecretary Emre Taner, and his assistant, Afet Güneş, were also requested to testify.

The KCK is the alleged urban wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Fidan was known for secretly holding talks with PKK representatives in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.

Istanbul Public Prosecutor Turan Çolakkadı said he had no knowledge of such a request.

Çolakkadı said a prosecutor would have informed the public prosecutor in case of such an incident, but he was not notified of a request for testimony. "If he [MİT chief Hakan Fidan] was called in, it was done without my information," he said. When asked if a prosecutor could have requested Fidan's testimony without his consent, Çolakkadı replied "it depends on whether the prosecutor deemed the incident important enough to notify me."

Acting specially authorized prosecutor Fikret Seçen said "such a thing did not happen" when asked if MİT chief Hakan Fidan was called in to testify as a suspect.