Court issues gag order on news of MIT trucks

ANKARA

A Turkish court banned Wednesday the coverage of any story about trucks belonging to the intelligence agency MIT that carried aid for Syria, but were “illegally” halted en route by gendarmerie, it was announced.

The trucks were stopped on the alleged grounds that they were loaded with ammunition in January 2014.

The court banned the broadcast in all forms, including written, visual and social media.

The state-run media watchdog, Radio and Television Supreme Council or the RTUK, announced the Adana court’s decision on its website that said the ban would stay in place until a government probe into the incident concluded.   

The trucks were stopped by gendarmerie teams of Turkey in southern Hatay and Adana provinces in January 2014 despite a national security law forbidding such acts.

The Turkish Interior Ministry had said the trucks were carrying humanitarian aid for the Turkmen community in Syria.

The prosecutor and security officers who ordered the stopping of the trucks were later removed from their posts.