An unusual series of events ensued following the accident last week. From inside one of the vehicles involved in the accident emerged a license plate belonging to the wife of an admiral in the naval forces, a general’s pennant, an emergency beacon lamp and an unregistered revolver. In his initial testimony regarding the accident, the vehicle’s driver, Gölbaşı naval Petty Officer Atıl Şahin, said he had obtained the license and pennant -- which featured two yellow stars on a red background -- from a military junkyard.
Şahin said he had wanted to throw out the general’s pennant and license plate but had forgotten them in the car. He admitted that both of the revolvers found in the vehicle (one registered, one not) belonged to him and asserted that his commanders knew about the unregistered weapon and that he had been planning to register it soon. The Gölbaşı Chief Prosecutor’s Office, which is conducting the investigation into the accident, requested information from the Çanakkale Governor’s Office over who the license plate, allegedly belonging to an admiral’s wife, was registered to. The prosecutor’s office also submitted a written request for the criminal record of Şahin as well as Petty Officer Sezgin Çağlar, who was also in the vehicle. It has been alleged that Şahin has undergone disciplinary action in the past and that he had been dismissed from the Underwater Assault Teams (SAT) division.
Immediately following the accident, a military prosecutor arrived on the scene from the Naval Forces Legal Council Office, seeking to intervene in the incident. However, the Gelibolu chief state prosecutor refused to allow this, recalling that the accident took place outside a military zone and therefore was in the jurisdiction of the civilian administration.
