Belgian government website hacked

January 14, 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium: The Web site of Belgium’s Defense Ministry was hacked Sunday by a group of Turkish nationalists, news reports said.

The group, which called itself “grandchildren of Ottoman Empire and Children of Turkey” posted text in English on the site defending the World War I-era killing of Armenians in Turkey and asserting that there was no Kurdish problem in Turkey. It also claimed that the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, was a terrorist organization supported by the West, according to footage shown on RTBF, Belgium’s French-language public TV broadcaster.

There was no suggestion why the group had chosen a Belgian government site.

Late Sunday, the site, http://www.mil.be, was still inaccessible.

“We must clearly identify the perpetrators and take additional measures to avoid a repetition of this in the future,” Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut told RTBF.