Kayseri--Turkey has said the release of images allegedly showing Turkish spy agency trucks carrying weapons into Syria early last year was an election ploy, with the prime minister denouncing what he called an "illegal action" against Turkey's interests.
An opposition Turkish daily on Friday published video footage of mortar shells, grenade launchers and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition stashed under boxes containing antibiotics and marked "fragile".
Local security forces in January 2014 searched trucks in southern Turkey near the Syrian border on suspicion that they were smuggling arms into Syria and found personnel of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) on board.
Turkey said at the time that the vehicles were on a humanitarian mission to the Turkmen community in Syria.
The new images prompted the opposition to question whether Ankara had provided military support to jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) group fighting in Syria.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he could not comment fully because of "state secrecy", but said Turkey provided the Syrian people and the Free Syrian Army with assistance, without specifying whether the aid was of a military nature.
"I said at the time it was made up of logistical aid directed for the Turkmen community in desperate need of help ... The aid was for the Free Syrian Army and the Syrian people," he said during a visit to the central Anatolian city of Kayseri.
"The raid on MIT trucks was an illegal action against Turkey's interests and national security.... And the release of (the video footage) right now is an effort aimed at affecting the elections," he added.
"But Turkey always does and will continue to do whatever its national security requires, and whatever responsibility it needs to shoulder for humanitarian purposes in the international arena. This is our right. We will not let it be a subject of discussion."
AFP
