Turkey summons German envoy over spying claims

Turkey summoned the German ambassador Monday over a report that Germany has been spying on its NATO ally for years, foreign ministry said.

“Eberhard Pohl was summoned this morning over reports in the German press. We will express our concerns and dismay,” a foreign ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

German weekly Der Spiegel reported on Sunday that Germany’s BND secret service had spied on Turkey since 2009 and had listened in on at least one telephone conversation of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

According to the magazine, the German government had chosen Turkey as a spying target in 2009.

Germany itself was outraged by revelations last year that U.S. intelligence had allegedly eavesdropped on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conversations.