Turkey launches espionage probe into telecoms authority

A chief public prosecutor in the Turkish capital of Ankara has launched anespionage probe into country's official telecommunications authority.The investigation comes amid claims that important and sensitive informationstored by the authority had been transmitted abroad."The decision to launch a probe has been made following several news reports inthe Turkish media that the data archive of The Presidency of Telecommunication and Communication has been completely erased after being transmitted to foreigncountries via satellite," read a written statement issued on Wednesday by the chiefpublic prosecutor's office."According to these news reports, before the archive was erased, it was copied, takenout of the building, handed over to third parties and stored. During this process, alldigital records and logs prior to 2012 were also erased," the statement said."The reports further claim that the transfer and transmission of important andsensitive information, and their subsequent deletion have been made for espionagepurposes. Therefore, the chief public prosecutor has launched a probe in order toinvestigate these claims," it concluded.