Prosecutors Charge Paper that Broke Story with ‘Terrorism’
Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet has released a series of still images and video showing Turkish state intelligence agents participating in smuggling of arms across the border to Syrian Islamist rebels.
The video shows security officials unloading a box of antibiotics, revealing large amounts of mortar shells underneath. This is reportedly the same January 2014 incident reported recently as part of testimony in legal proceedings.
Exactly where the arms went once they crossed the border is unclear, but they were believed to have been distributed broadly among Islamist factions, particularly ISIS which controls a large portion of the Turkish border.
Turkey has repeatedly denied the charges, and followed up today’s publication by announcing the newspaper that broke the story is facing charges of “terrorism” for making the report. Prosecutors who were pushing a case related to the weapons smuggling have similarly been detained, and Turkey seems determined to cover this up at all costs.