ANKARA (Reuters)–European Commission President Romano Prodi telephoned Turkey’s prime minister on Wednesday to discuss a growing scandal over hacking of email traffic at the EU’s representation in Turkey.
An aide to Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said Prodi had called the Turkish leader to discuss security at the union’s offices in Turkey–a membership candidate.
"The issue was the business of the emails," he said.
Last week a leftist politician began releasing electronic messages he said were confidential internal mail from the EU’s offices in Ankara.
It was not clear how the emails were obtained or if they were genuine–but the scandal has only added to tension in often difficult dealings between the mainly-Muslim nation of 65 million and the wealthy bloc it seeks to join.
Turkey’s intelligence agency has deniedspeculation it was responsible for stealing and leaking the emails and the government has promised a full investigation.
Some in Turkey called for the EU’s top representative–Karen Fogg–to be declared persona non grata after the publication of the emails in which she is reported to have criticised Turkey.