Trucks to remain a headache for Erdo?an

President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an is back hounding a media organ, this time daily Cumhuriyet, and Can Dündar, its editor-in-chief, for publishing footage about three Syria-bound trucks that were stopped by the gendarmerie near Adana in January 2014. It turned out at the time that the trucks belonged to Turkey?s National Intelligence Organization (M?T). They were searched on a local prosecutor?s order after a tip-off indicating they were carrying weapons. 

The government later claimed that the consignment was aid to Syrian Turkmens beleaguered by forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad. The claim that many people take seriously, however, is that the trucks were laden with ordnance for a radical Islamic group that was making headway against the Syrian army at the time. The claim also gained a boost with the court testimonies of gendarmerie officers who have since been arrested for intercepting the M?T trucks. These testimonies, leaked to the media, indicate that the trucks were carrying weapons and not humanitarian aid. Cumhuriyet?s footage, taken while the trucks were being searched, also shows military hardware. The government says the video is a fabrication, while Erdo?an is angry that the footage was made available to the public. A legal investigation has been initiated against Cumhuriyet and Dündar on the instigation of Erdo?an and the government. The claim is that Cumhuriyet and Dündar engaged in espionage and incitement to rebellion by publishing the footage. Erdo?an recently said, on the state-owned channel TRT, that he had instructed his lawyer to move against Cumhuriyet, and added that he would not let Dündar get away with this. He said Dündar ?would pay a heavy price? for publishing the footage. Erdo?an?s remarks not only beg the question why he made this a...