Hackers Publish Turkish Mayor’s Phone Number in Tit-for-Tat Cyber Attack · Global Voices
Baran Mavzer

A group of Turkish hackers who call themselves Redhack have published the cell phone numbers of Melih Gökçek, the mayor of Turkey's capital city Ankara, and his security guard on Twitter in retaliation against the mayor for publicizing the cell phone number of a college student.
In March 2012 [tr], the mayor publicized the phone number of Ayşegül Avci, a college student, on his Twitter account by mentioning that she insulted him on the microblogging platform.
On February 26, 2013, Redhack published Melih Gökçek cell phone number, along with a series of communications between Gökçek and President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges in Turkey Faik Yavuz that seemed to prove their participation in corrupt dealings.
Redhack made a name for themselves in March 2012 when they hacked the Ankara police web servers, known as the Ankara Directory of Security and POLNET, and published the index on the Internet. Since then, they have hacked several government websites and servers, including the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Turkish Armed Forces, the Presidency of Religious Affairs, and the Council of Higher Education.
Picture is taken from RedHack official page.
The group was deemed an armed terrorist organization in October 2012 by a Turkish court, and government officials in December 2013 decided to build an anti-hacker team of 150 people just to stop Redhack's cyber attacks. But the move did not seem to stop them, and they hacked the Council of Higher Education servers and published documents alleging corruption in January 2013.
After Redhack published the mayor's cell phone number on Twitter, the man responded in a sharply worded tweet to the group, touching off a lengthy back-and-forth between the two.
The exchange began when Redhack announced Gökçek's phone number:
@TheRedHack: Kadinlarin telefonlarini yayinlayan ve RedHack'i 1 ay'da yakalatacagini soyleyen Melih Gokcek cevap vermiyor. Cepten arasak mi=> 05323184151
@TheRedHack: Melih Gökçek, who announced the phone numbers of women and said that he would get us arrested, is not answering us. Should we call his cell phone number: 05323184151
Redhack also published the letters that Faik Yavuz wrote to the several people, including the mayor Gökçek and the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In these letters, he was asking for favors to get jobs for his friends and relatives. Also in one of his letters to the Mayor, he was asking for some information about a land that he owns, and mentioned how it would be more valuable if the building permit would change. In his letters to Erdoğan, he denied the allegations of the Eid al-Adha (festival of sacrifice) donations fraud [en], by mentioning how he was always a supporter of AKP politics.
@TheRedHack: Kendi iclerindeki usulsuzlukler, RTE ve Melih'e yazdigi mektuplar.. Bugunluk bunlar. Devami sonra ;) Okuyun yayin=> http://redleaks.blogspot.com/2013/02/ankara-ticaret-borsas-baskani-faik.html … …
@TheRedHack: Irregularities between themselves, and his (mentioning Faik Yavuz) letters to RTE (Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) and Melih… That's all for today. To be continued. Read and spread. http://redleaks.blogspot.com/2013/02/ankara-ticaret-borsas-baskani-faik.html …
The mayor responded on Twitter with a screenshot of a long message written by him, which included a lot of bad language and scoff, and the message mentioned that the publicized phone number was wrong or even if it were correct it should not count as a success, since at least 2,000 people have it. Here is the tweet:
@06melihgokcek: BU ÇAKMA RedHack'LI GIRİ ZEKALILAR İLE KUYRUĞUNA TAKILANLARA İŞTE CEVABIM… pic.twitter.com/iFlbCCt5s0
@06melihgokcek: Here is my answer for the retards from fake RedHack members and their fans hanging on their tail.  pic.twitter.com/iFlbCCt5s0
The mayor demanded an apology from the group:
@06melihgokcek: YA HATANIZI KABUL EDİP HEMEN ÖZÜR DİLEYİN…YA DA 5 DAKİKA SONRA VERECEĞİM CEVABI OKUYUP YERİN DİBİNE GİRİN…TABİ ONURUNUZ VARSA…
@06melihgokcek: Accept your mistake and apologise to me right now, or… Or be ashamed by the answer that I will give in five minutes… If you have any honor, of course…
Redhack quickly rebuffed the mayor's request for an apology:
@TheRedHack: @06melihgokcek Ulan dingil, ne ozur dileyecegiz senden? Senin adamin bilgisayarindan cikti belgeler, rusvet yiyorsaniz iz birakmayin bari ;)
@TheRedHack: @06melihgokcek Why would we apologise to you, you prick? The documents came out of your guy's computer, well at least do not leave signs after the corruption of yours.
Other Twitter users joined the unfolding argument. One person asked about the allegations of the mayor's assets that he indirectly owned through his sons, by using his political power:
@cgdm_cnr: @06melihgokcek ACityPlus Outlet,Kılıç Petrol,Dikmen Vadisi , Ostim AnkaraSpor üzerinden oğullarına edindiği kanunsuz araziler. iftirami?
@cgdm_cnr: @06melihgokcek The lands that he got by using their sons; ACityPlus, Kilic Petrol, Valley of Dikmen, Ostim, Ankaraspor. Are these true?
The mayor denied the allegations by saying:
@06melihgokcek: Çiğdem ispat edersen ben, etmezsen sen dünyanin en onursuz ve yalanci kişisisin. Hadi onurunu kurtar… @cgdm_cnr
@06melihgokcek: Cigdem if you prove this, then I am; if you cannot prove this, you are the biggest liar and least honorable person in the world. Come on, save your honor…
The day after Redhack published his phone number, Gökçek raised eyebrows by sharing photographs on his Twitter account of a 17-year-old girl named İrem Aksoy, who was taken into custody after she called him “indecent”. First he tweeted about her case:
@06melihgokcek: BUGÜN İREM AKSOY İSİMLİ BAYANI BANA “edepsizsin Melih Gökçek” DİYE (ilave cümlelerde var) HAKARET ETTİĞİ İÇİN KARAKOLA ÇAĞIRMIŞLAR…
@06melihgokcek: Today, a lady was taken into custody for insulting me, by saying “you are indecent, Melih Gokcek” (and there is more to it).
The girl, Aksoy, also tweeted about the incident:
@aksoyirm: melıh gokcek'e hakaretten bugun gozaltına alındım bu surecte benı yalnız bırakmayan tum yoldaslarıma tesekkur edıyorum
Then Gökçek shared photos of İrem Aksoy which were taken from her own Twitter account. On the photos he shared, İrem Aksoy was drinking raki (a Turkish alcohol drink) and the Mayor thought this as a sign of that she was not ‘that innocent':
@06melihgokcek: ŞİMDİ MASUM OLARAK TAKTİM EDİLEN 17 YAŞINDAKİ İREM AKSOY'U TWİTTERDAKİ KENDİ YAYINLADIĞI FOTOĞRAFLARDAN TANIYALIM pic.twitter.com/qQ54lX46wI
@06melihgokcek: Now let's learn about Irem Aksoy, who introduced herself as innocent, through the pictures that she uploaded on her Twitter account pic.twitter.com/qQ54lX46wI.
After Gökçek tweeted two more pictures of her drinking raki again (which can be seen here and here), he fired off a heated response to a Twitter user who questioned his actions. Twitter user “agolge” reproached him:
@agolge: Siz hayatınızda hiç genç olmadınız mı ayıptır… @06melihgokcek
@agolge: Weren't you ever young before? It is a shame what you did… @06melihgokcek
The mayor's response was:
@06melihgokcek: Genç olmak insanlara hakaret hakkı mı veriyor?Edepli yetişeceksinizYetişmemekte direnirseniz biz büyükleriniz size bunu öğreteceğiz @agolge
@06melihgokcek: Does being young give you the right to insult others? You will grow up as decent people. If you fight against it, we -the grown ups- will teach you that.
Twitter user Ali Remzi Gemalmaz joined in the fray by sharing an old picture of the mayor in a tweet:
@AliRemzii: @06melihgokcek rakı içmek ayıpsa aynı haltı sen niye yedin?yada niye meze oldun rakı sofrasında başgan? zavallısın.. pic.twitter.com/cUbJcglP8I
@AliRemzii: @06melihgokcek If it is a shame to drink raki, why did you do the same thing? Or why did you join the drinking session, mayor? You are pathetic. pic.twitter.com/cUbJcglP8I
After the mayor denied the photo's accuracy, claiming it was a photo montage, famous Turkish porn actor and producer Şahin K. said:
@SahinK_original: @06melihgokcek @AliRemzii Baskan benim filmlerin de hepsi montaj:))
@SahinK_original: @06melihgokcek @AliRemzii Hey Mayor, all of my movies are photo-montage based, too.
Redhack offered up one more picture of the mayor showing him years ago at a table surrounded by people drinking raki:
@TheRedHack: 17 yasinda kizin evini polislerle bastitip resmini yayinlayan çete lideri @06melihgokcek once kendi resmine baksin=> pic.twitter.com/fR0J5fTTwE
@TheRedHack: Gang leader Melih Gokcek who attacks a 17-year-old girl's house with policemen and put her pictures on the Internet should check his picture first. pic.twitter.com/fR0J5fTTwE
Redhack has recently released a documentary called “RED!”[tr] to explain who they are and what they want to accomplish: