General Staff still silent on munitions-laden truck row

The General Staff has neither confirmed nor denied ownership of the truck. The General Staff often makes the position of the military regarding ongoing developments in the country clear. The military chief usually issues a written statement or calls a press conference to respond to questions publicly directed at the armed forces. However, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ has not yet made such a move on the truck controversy. The truck was reportedly taking the munitions -- dozens of weapons and around 900 hand grenades -- to the Special Forces Command in the capital's Gölbaşı district.

The vehicle was, however, traveling without any security escort for protection.

The truck was being driven by a civilian who was accompanied by a noncommissioned officer and a corporal in civilian attire. It was stopped by Ankara police in Ümitköy late on Wednesday upon receipt of an e-mail from an unidentified individual. The e-mail alleged that the weapons and hand grenades in the truck would be distributed to violent groups in eastern and southeastern cities on March 21 during Nevruz, the Kurdish New Year’s celebration. The munitions would be used to foment clashes between civilians and security forces.

The truck had set off from the western province of Muğla. The munitions were carefully hidden in the truck amongst packages of A4 paper.

Muğla Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Col. Salih Karataş announced that the weapons and grenades in the truck belong to the TSK, but provided no response to questions of why so many munitions were being transferred from one city to another without strict security measures and in an unescorted civilian vehicle.

According to the Regulation on Transfer of Explosives, the armed forces is required to request a police escort for the transfer of large amounts of munitions from one city to another. However, no such request was received by the Ankara Police Department, police sources reported. The Muğla Police Department also announced that they had no prior information about the truck and the munitions.

Military sources said Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Arslan Güner was following the developments related to the munitions-laden truck and that military chief Gen. Başbuğ had been informed about the incident. However, the General Staff has not yet released a statement on the issue.

On Friday the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office declared it would not take legal action regarding the incident, saying the munitions the truck was carrying belong to the armed forces. The office also added that prosecutors had completed the interrogation of the munitions-laden vehicle’s passengers.

Questions go unanswered

Despite the General Staff’s reluctance to make a statement on the issue, there are still some questions that beg an urgent response from the military.

Among them are: What if the e-mail in question had been sent to terrorist organizations instead of the Ankara police? What would have happened if those organizations seized such a huge number of munitions? Why were the weapons and hand grenades in the truck being transported without a police escort? Why was no police department informed about the transport of munitions by a civilian truck even though the truck used a common route between Muğla and Ankara? Why were the munitions hidden amongst packages of A4 paper? Was the transport of the munitions done in retaliation for the arrest of members of the military as part of a probe into a military plot? Is the Gendarmerie General Command entitled to undertake such transport of munitions? Why did the truck set off from Muğla, not from another province closer to Ankara? Has the General Staff launched an investigation into the truck controversy? Does the transport of the munitions really have any link to the approaching Nevruz?

Transfer documents prove colonel wrong

Col. Karataş claimed on Thursday that all hand grenades in the truck had the required documents for the transfer and had serial numbers on them, denying claims that the grenades’ serial numbers had been scratched off. He also said the munitions were registered in the TSK’s inventory. But the munitions’ transfer documents suggest the contrary.

The documents read, “All hand grenades -- which do not have serial numbers -- at the Special Forces Support Group of the General Staff in Güllük, Milas, will be transferred to the Oğulbey Barracks to be assigned serial numbers.”

The documents also suggest that a civilian truck was hired for the transfer.