400 eliteTurks voice support for opposition daily
Some 400 Turkish academics and artists have issued a statement in support of the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet, which recently published a report revealing alleged attempts by Turkey’s spy agency to send weapons to terrorists in neighboring Syria.
The prominent intellectuals who signed the statement emphasized that the “dark” facts surrounding the role of Turkey’s spy agency, MIT, must be brought out into light.
The intellectuals added in the statement that the public is aware of its rights and want the president to stop threatening the press, and instead, clarify the facts.
“All pressures and threats against daily Cumhuriyet and its editor-in-chief Can Dundar are constitutional crimes. It violates our right to receive information. We call on the president to stop pressures and threats against press freedom,” the statement read.
“We remind state and government officials what was on those trucks, where they were carried from and to, to whom they were carried and whether or not the shipment complied with international law should be communicated properly to the public,” the intellectuals emphasized.
On May 29, Cumhuriyet published video footage on its website purportedly showing a consignment of weapons headed from Turkey to Syria, which was intercepted by Turkish border guards. The shipment took place in January 2014 by a convoy of MIT trucks. The trucks were loaded with arms and ammunition.
Following the report, Turkey’s judiciary ordered an investigation and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan filed a complaint against the newspaper for publishing the report.
The incident has triggered a huge controversy, with the government being criticized for supporting terrorism in neighboring Syria.
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