Germany spying on Turkey for nearly 40 years

Germany’s foreign intelligence agency has been spying on Turkey for nearly four decades, Focus magazine said in a report which could raise tensions further between the NATO allies.

The details about the length of possible surveillance and on the decision-making surrounding it go further than first reports earlier this week.

Turkey summoned Germany’s ambassador in Ankara on Monday after media reports that Berlin had identified Ankara as a top target of surveillance in a government document from 2009 and had been spying on Turkey for years.

Focus magazine said the BND intelligence agency had been spying on Turkey since 1976 and that the German government under the then Social Democrat chancellor Helmut Schmidt had expressly approved the step.

A spokesman for the German government declined to comment on the report.

The report is a further embarrassment for Angela Merkel’s government which faces accusations of hypocrisy because of its outrage over allegations of widespread surveillance by the United States on Germans, including the tapping of the chancellor’s phone.

However, conservative lawmaker Hans-Peter Uhl told Focus there were “good reasons” for the BND to bug Turkey.

He cited human trafficking, drugs and terrorism as issues of concern, echoing the views of many German politicians.

“We need to know what is coming to us from EU-applicant Turkey,” Focus quoted him as saying.

Der Spiegel quoted Turkey’s former deputy head of government Ertugrul Yalcinbayir as saying his country had long suspected they were being spied on by Germany and other nations.

“Now we need a no-spy deal,” he said.