Ignoring intelligence on truck to Syria would have been ‘treason’
Aziz Takçı, one of the five prosecutors who were suspended by a top judicial board on Thursday for investigating claims of illegal arms shipments to opposition groups in Syria carried out by the Turkish intelligence agency, said “there has been no official accusation against me”
On Thursday, the government-controlled Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) decided with a majority vote to suspend Süleyman Bağrıyanık, Ahmet Karaca, Aziz Takçı, Özcan Şişman and Yaşar Kavalcıklıoğlu, who were all involved, in different capacities, in an investigation of the events.
The incident involved three Syria-bound trucks operated by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) that were stopped in the Ceyhan district of the southern province of Adana on Jan.19, 2014. The trucks were allegedly transporting arms shipments to opposition groups in Syria, including al-Qaeda.
Giving some details in the written statement released on Friday, Takçı said that an operation on the search of a Syria-bound truck in Adana on Nov. 7, 2013 conducted after an intelligence received by Adana police headquarters.
Stating that 935 mortar shells were seized in the search, Takçı said “it was likely that the ammunition was going to be used outside Turkey by some terrorist groups or foreign countries.”
Giving more information about the incident, the prosecutor said that on May 30, 2013, prosecutors found out also that some al-Qaeda linked people obtained material used in “Sarin” gas production from Turkey and that they had planned to take them to Syria. He said these people were detained.
Saying that it was impossible to ignore intelligence over an ammunition-loaded truck, Takçı added “if we ignored the intelligence, it would amount to ‘treason’.”
“The search and seizure trucks were official cars and those involved in the transfer were public officials was never recorded in the case file. The identities of those involved in the incidents are still unknown,” the prosecutor added.
BGN NEWS