Ex-president holds Greek premier responsible for surveillance scandal

By Ahmet Gencturk

ANKARA (AA) – Greece's former president has held Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis responsible for the surveillance scandal which has created a storm in the country's politics.

Speaking at a remembrance ceremony for Greeks executed by Nazi Germany's occupying forces, Prokopis Pavlopoulos said power assigned to the rulers through popular vote is by nature and by definition, objective

"Some fundamental rights provisioned by constitution, including privacy of communication, have apparently been violated," local news outlet Left.gr cited him as saying on Tuesday.

Criticizing the way the prime minister handled the situation, Pavlopoulos said: "Political kingpins must stand out with courage and consistency and without calculating the so-called political cost."

Meanwhile, main opposition party SYRIZA-PS said in a statement that the government is "on an extreme-right downhill path."

According to SYRIZA-PS, the government is "seeking domestic enemies and foreign powers that purport to destabilize the country."

- Surveillance scandal

In a televised address to the nation, Mitsotakis last Monday acknowledged that the opposition PASOK-KINAL party's leader Nikos Androulakis was wiretapped by the National Intelligence Service (EYP), but denied he knew about the surveillance.

“Although everything was done legally, the EYP underestimated the political dimension of this action. It was formally okay, but politically unacceptable,” Mitsotakis claimed.

The announcement followed the resignation of EYP head Andreas Kontoleon and the prime minister's General Secretary Grigoris Dimitriadis on Aug. 5.

The scandal unfolded on Aug. 4 when Kontoleon told a parliamentary committee that his agency had been spying on journalist Thanasis Koukakis.

The parliamentary probe was launched after Androulakis complained to top prosecutors about an attempt to hack his cellphone with Israeli-made Predator tracking software.