The Turkish government has vehemently denied earlier claims that it is arming rebels fighting in Syria and accused dozens of prosecutors, soldiers and security officers involved in the searching of trucks of attempting to bring it down by suggesting that it is doing so.
Earlier this month, Turkey arrested four prosecutors who ordered searches in a similar incident in January 2014 and they are now in prison pending trial.
More than 30 security officers involved in that interception also face charges including military espionage and attempting to overthrow the government.
The footage published on opposition Cumhuriyet daily's website Friday shows inspectors searching a metallic container watched by security officers, a prosecutor and sniffer dogs.
The officials first open cardboard boxes marked as "fragile" and full of antibiotics. But under those boxes they find dozens of mortar shells, the video, shot by an anonymous bystander, appears to show.
Cumhuriyet, which also published a series of still images, said the weapons were of Russian origin and had been supplied from ex-Soviet countries.
The daily claimed the trucks were carrying a total of 1,000 mortar shells, 80,000 rounds of ammunition for light and heavy weapons as well as hundreds of grenade launchers.
The Turkish authorities have sought to link the affair to U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen who President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accuses of running a parallel state through supporters in the judiciary and police with the aim of usurping him.
Turkey has vehemently denied aiding jihadists in Syria such as ISIS, although it wants to see Syrian President Bashar al-Assad toppled.
Tensions are running high in Turkey ahead of June 7 parliamentary elections, with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) seeking to hold on to the dominance it has maintained since it first swept to power in 2002.
AFP
TV5F.COM
29/5/15
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Related:
Turkey: Truck full of heavy weapons seized near Syrian border in Adana.
Six suspects sent to court over ammunition bound for Syria seized in Adana....
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Turkey paper investigated after Syria arms claims...
ReplyDeleteTurkey is investigating whether a newspaper breached terrorism laws after it published footage claiming to prove a convoy stopped last year was carrying arms to Syrian rebels.
The trucks, allegedly owned by Turkish intelligence, were searched in January 2014 near the border.
The pro-opposition Cumhuriyet daily said they held weapons stashed below boxes of medicine.
Turkey has said the vehicles were on a humanitarian mission.
The government has claimed that the raid on the trucks was carried out on the orders of supporters of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based cleric who Ankara accuses of running a parallel state.
The prosecutors who ordered the search and the military officers who carried it out are also under investigation.
'Extraordinary'
Cumhuriyet said their footage had been taken by local security officials.
The vehicles carried mortar shells, grenade launchers and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, it alleged.
The leader of Turkey's main opposition party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, called the information "extraordinary"....BBC
29/5/15