Leaked audio about Syrian war prompts Turkey espionage probe

Turkey has started an espionage investigation after a recorded discussion between top officials on potential military action in Syria was leaked on YouTube. Some predict the leak will herald a possible government crackdown on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s political opponents after elections are held on Sunday.

The recording of the meeting between Turkey's intelligence chief, foreign minister and deputy head of the military was by far the most serious breach in weeks of highly sensitive leaks, a scandal which Erdogan has cast as a plot to sabotage the state and topple him.

Erdogan and his aides have blamed the Hizmet movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally whose followers have influence in the police and judiciary, of running a "dirty campaign" of espionage to implicate him in corruption ahead of nationwide municipal elections on Sunday.

"Tomorrow we will teach those liars and slanderers a lesson," Erdogan told a jubilant crowd of supporters in Istanbul's working class Kartal district on Saturday, vowing his ruling AK Party would triumph at the polls.

Gulen has vociferously denied orchestrating the leak scandal. Those close to his network have said they fear a heavy crackdown once the local elections have passed, Reuters reported.

Police overnight briefly detained Onder Aytac, a prominent writer and journalist known to be close to the Hizmet movement, on suspicion of having information about the bugging of the foreign ministry meeting, the Hurriyet newspaper said.

Government officials declined to comment on whether an investigation into the leak had begun, saying any probe would be a matter for the judiciary. The state prosecutor's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Senior officials said in February that Turkey would launch a criminal investigation into an alleged "parallel state" backed by Gulen, which they accuse of orchestrating the fraud scandal and illegally tapping thousands of phones over years.

Erdogan's government has already reassigned thousands of police officers and hundreds of prosecutors in a purge after the corruption investigation burst into the open on Dec. 17 with the detention of businessmen and three ministers’ sons.

Gulen's network has said it is the victim of a witch hunt.

The corruption scandal, along with anti-government protests have grown into one of the greatest challenges of Erdogan’s 11-year rule, and his critics fear that what they see as his authoritarian instincts will only deepen if the AK Party puts in a strong showing in Sunday's polls.

Al Jazeera and wire services