he front page of Bugün daily published on Tuesday. (Photo Today’s Zaman)
Police raided the offices of a Turkish conglomerate and media group after the Bugün daily ran a lead story showing the transfer of weapons and explosives to the terrorist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from Turkey to Syria.
On Tuesday morning the police raided the premises of the Koza İpek Holding, which is critical of the government, in the capital of Ankara, as the daily owned by the group had run a story with video stills showing the illegal weapons transfer to the terrorist group on the same day.
Koza İpek Holding includes Kanaltürk, Bugün TV, the Bugün daily, İpek University and Koza Holding. The residence of Akın İpek, owner of the group, was searched by the police.
Editor-in-Chief of the Bugün daily Erhan Başyurt posted several tweets on his personal Twitter account, saying: “A police operation that aims to silence our group has started. Police raided our office. How shameful!”
“The operation has come right after we revealed the illegal shipment of weapons to ISIL,” he said in another tweet.
The daily claimed the video footage shows that a large amount of materials, including explosives, construction pipes and plates, were being transferred to ISIL from Turkey’s Akçakale border gate in the southeastern Şanlıurfa province, while Turkish customs officials were standing by and watching.
The interim Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government is accused of illegally sending arms to ISIL fighting against both Kurds and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, as the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) was subjected an investigation in January of last year on charges of being the main actor in transferring weapons to ISIL.
In 2014, several MİT trucks were intercepted by gendarmes in two separate incidents in the southern provinces of Hatay and Adana, after prosecutors received tips that the trucks were illegally carrying arms to Syria. Those prosecutors who launched an investigation into the members of MİT linked to the incident were first taken off the case and then were arrested on charges of “treason” and “membership in a terrorist organization that aims to overthrow the government
According to the report run by Bugün, the materials and weapons that were passed into ISIL-controlled territory in Syria are seen in the footage, and images captured from CCTV footage show material enough to fill up numerous trucks as custom officials allowed the transfer of the weapons.
The material includes metal plates weighing 400 to 500 kilograms, which ISIL mounts on vehicles as armor, construction pipes used for firing mortars and electric cables used in explosives.
The quantities being transported on a daily basis are apparently very large. Two trucks of fertilizer used in explosives, in addition to materials such as electric cables and fuses, enough to fill a truck each, have been passing through Turkey’s Akçakale border gate, heading for ISIL-controlled parts of Syria over the past two months.
Mehmet Ali Edipoğlu, Hatay deputy of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), recently said shipments of weapons have been continuing to ISIL elements since the revelation of the MİT-linked weapons transfer issue in 2014.
The Cumhuriyet daily in a headline story in June published video stills of weapons carried by trucks operated by MİT, discrediting the government’s earlier claim that the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid to Turkmens.
After the report, Erdoğan had threatened Can Dündar, editor-in-chief of the daily, saying: “He will pay a heavy price for it. He cannot get away with it.”
Meanwhile, Turkish whistleblower Fuat Avni had recently exposed plans by Erdoğan to launch a crackdown on critical media outlets in the country ahead of a snap election slated for November.
After a massive corruption scandal went in public on Dec. 17, 2013, implicating then-government members, including four former ministers and then-Prime Minister Erdoğan’s close circle, Erdoğan vowed to carry out a witch hunt against all dissent including media groups, businesspeople and civil society groups.
In the first wave of a crackdown on critical media, Samanyolu Broadcasting Group CEO Hidayet Karaca was detained on Dec. 14, 2014, three days before the first anniversary of the Dec. 17 corruption scandal, and since then Karaca has been held in Silivri Prison without any indictment.