ADANA/MERSIN, Turkey
Ex-gendarmerie commander and four prosecutors have been arrested for allegedly violating national security over a 2014 incident where trucks belonging to the Turkish intelligence service were stopped and searched near Syria.
The arrests came late on Thursday, a day after the High Criminal Court No:2 in the southern district of Tarsus issued arrest warrants for Adana's former provincial gendarmerie (rural police) commander Ozkan Cokay, former chief public prosecutor Suleyman Bagriyanik plus prosecutors Ozcan Sisman, Aziz Takci and Ahmet Karaca.
They were brought to prison after a court hearing on Thursday.
The arrest warrants were linked to a probe involving the stop and search of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MIT) trucks in January 2014. The searches happened in Turkey’s southern provinces of Adana and Hatay.
The four prosecutors were sent to the Tarsus court following their detention and a health check in Antalya, Gaziantep, Adana and Zonguldak, whereas ex-commander Cokay turned himself in, and went to court with his lawyer.
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.
Turkey's Interior Ministry said at the time that the trucks, which were claimed to be carrying arms into northern Syria, were in reality conveying humanitarian aid to the Turkmen community in the war-torn country.
The four prosecutors, who were involved in ordering the search of the MIT vehicles, were later removed from their posts pending an inquiry.
The suspects are charged with "attempting to overthrow the Turkish government or hindering the government's operation in part or full through using force and violence," which is punishable with an "aggravated life sentence."
