Indictment in MİT trucks probe accepted by court

Former Adana Gendarmerie Brigadier General Hamza Celepoğlu and former Gendarmerie Criminal Bureau Chief colonel Burhan Cihangiroğlu will be tried by the 14th Heavy Penal Court on charges of “attempting to overthrow and to prevent the implementation of the duty of the government of the Turkish Republic,”  “forming and administrating an armed terrorist group,” “seizing confidential state documents for political and military espionage purposes,”  and “revealing information related to the state’s security, which must be kept confidential for espionage purposes.”

The indictment said “MİT trucks were stopped by force using weapons. Samples of state secrets were illegally taken.” It also claimed that all groups that the suspects are accused of belonging to were “fulfilling their duty as part of a plot carried out in line with the purposes of the FETÖ/PDY armed terrorist group,” referring to the so-called “Fetullahist Terrorist Organization/Parallel State Structure” of U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, an ally turned nemesis of the government. 

The indictment also included a letter sent by the Gendarmerie General Commandership and a testimony given by former Kırıkhan District Gendarmerie Commander Captain Kubilay Ayvaz. 

According to the testimony of Ayvaz, who was present at the scene on the day of the search of the trucks, Celepoğlu called to offer support. 

“Do you need anything? Do you want me to send a gendarmerie special operations team?” Celepoğlu reportedly said, to which Ayvaz responded that he did not need support for the search and thus prevented the teams from arriving at the scene. 

According to the prosecutor’s indictment, in his earlier testimony Celepoğlu claimed that he did not even know the trucks had been stopped at the time of the search and learned about the incident from TV.