Turkey: MIT truck case suspect now faces FETO charge

By Serdar Acil and Baris Kilic

ANKARA

A former prosecutor, who was allegedly involved in the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) trucks case from 2014, now faces up to 15 years in jail on charges of being a Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) member.

Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has prepared and sent to court an indictment against Aziz Takci who has been under arrest since 2015, according to a judicial source, who spoke with Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media, said.

Takci has also been accused of using the ByLock mobile app, which was a suspected means of communication among FETO members, according to the source.

The Turkish government accuses the FETO and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen of orchestrating the defeated coup of July 2016, which left 249 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara has said FETO is behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.

Takci was arrested and remanded in custody in 2015 in a probe involving the search of MIT trucks in January 2014. The incident took place in Turkey’s southern provinces of Adana and Hatay.

Later in 2015, the Public Prosecutor's Office in Mersin province demanded aggravated life imprisonment for Takci on charges of "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government by using force and violence or attempts to destroy the government's function totally or partly," and "getting intelligence over the politics and security of the state".

The MIT trucks were stopped in Adana by local gendarmerie on the grounds that they were loaded with ammunition, despite a national security law forbidding such a search.

Turkish Interior Ministry at the time denied the MIT trucks were on a mission to supply arms to groups in northern Syria and said the trucks in question had in fact been transporting humanitarian aid to the Turkmen community in the war-torn country.

Reporting by Serdar Acil and Baris Kilic; Writing by Burcu Arık