Turkey on Tenterhooks: Update on the Coup Stories

Aysegül Er writes for EA:

For almost two years, there has been talks about conspiracies and a possible military coup in Turkey, with the "ultra-nationalist" Ergenekon organization providing the base for the overthrow of the Government. Ergenekon was alleged to include plotting journalists, soldiers, and politicians, with the finds of caches of arms, even in Ankara.

On Thursday, there was the claim of the interception of a truckload of arms. Two soldiers, with formal service documents, explained that they are going to the Ankara district of Gölbaşı to the command headquarters, but police forces confiscated the truck and questioned the soldiers and driver for eight hours before releasing them.

Muğla Provincial Gendarmerie Commander Colonel Salih Karataş announced that the weapons and grenades in the truck belong to the Turkish Army. “All the munitions belong to the TSK. They have the required documents for the transfer. They also have serial numbers on them. All the munitions are registered to the TSK inventory,” he emphasized.

Some other military sources told, “This is a routine practice. We prefer such methods of transfer of explosives in order to avoid risks.” Others in the military, however, gave a different story, saying that the Army does not any connection to the discovered weapons and munition.

There is further confusion because, under the Regulation on Transfer of Explosives, the armed forces should request a police escort for 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 and “no one requested an escort for the truck from us”.