It is claimed that ‘dozens’ of the police and other officials who carried out the routine interception of this illicit traffic have since been charged with espionage and attempting to overthrow the Turkish government. It subsequently briefly appeared on Turkish websites, though was swiftly removed by the authorities. The video footage showed a routine search of the vehicles in question by police and border control officials.
This, the newspaper observed, stood in stark contradiction of the Turkish government’s claim that the trucks were carrying aid to Turkmen living in Syria – a claim also later refuted by representatives of the Turkmen community inside Syria. In May this year the Turkish newspaper ‘Cumhuriyet’ published photographs and video footage of trucks allegedly under the control of the Turkish Intelligence Service (MIT) carrying weapons destined for jihadis in neighboring Syria. When cases of illicit arms trading come to light, the world is often reminded that many if not most truly destabilizing arms transfers are made not by sinister arms traffickers or ‘terrorist’ groups, but by governments and their agents in pursuit of covert self interest. Governments – and civil society generally – have recognized the trade as contributing to insecurity that has occasioned mass human displacement on a scale not seen since the end of World War Two.
Recent years have seen increasing emphasis placed on the need to eradicate the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
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