WarSclerotic

Two generals and a retired colonel have been arrested on charges of espionage and terrorism for their role in the interception in 2014 of trucks allegedly carrying arms to Syria.

Ankara Gendarmerie Regional Commander Maj. Gen. İbrahim Aydın and former Adana Gendarmerie Regional Commander Brig. Gen. Hamza Celepoğlu and former Gendarmerie Criminal Laboratory head, ret. Col. Burhanettin Cihangiroğlu were detained on Saturday and referred to an İstanbul court for arrest on Sunday.

The İstanbul Second Criminal Court of Peace ruled for the arrest pending trial of Aydın, Celepoğlu and Cihangiroğlu a little after the midnight on Monday.

Maj. Gen Aydın and ret. Col. Cihangiroğlu were arrested on charges of “obtaining confidential information for purposes of political or military espionage; disclosing confidential information pertaining to state security for espionage purposes; attempting to destroy or prevent the government of the Republic of Turkey from functioning; founding or leading an armed terrorist organization.”

Brig. Gen. Celepoğlu was arrested on charges of “attempting to destroy or prevent the government of the Republic of Turkey from functioning; founding or leading an armed terrorist organization.”

Two editors of the Cumhuriyet daily, Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and the Ankara representative Erdem Gül were arrested last week on similar charges after publishing footage that showed the arms were carrying guns, contrary to earlier government claims that they were transporting humanitarian aid.

In January 2014, gendarmes stopped three Syria-bound trucks in the southern provinces of Adana and Hatay in two separate instances, after prosecutors received tip-offs that the vehicles were illegally carrying weapons to armed organizations in Syria.

The government said the trucks were operated by the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and dismissed claims at the time that the trucks intercepted and searched by the Turkish military by order of prosecutors in Adana had any arms. Current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, who was foreign minister at the time, asserted that the cargo was humanitarian aid destined for embattled Syrian Turkmens on the other side of the border.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the government called the 2014 investigation of the MİT trucks “treason and espionage” on the part of the prosecutors and a case was filed against those involved in the investigation.

An indictment, which was approved by the Tarsus High Criminal Court in July, seeks a life sentence for Adana Chief Public Prosecutor Süleyman Bağrıyanık, former Adana Deputy Chief Public Prosecutor Ahmet Karaca and Adana prosecutors Aziz Takçı and Özcan Şişman, as well as Gendarmerie Commander Col. Özkan Çokay, who were involved in the investigation.