Turkish Airlines carried cargo suspected to be weapons to unknown groups in Nigeria, according to a recently leaked audio recording.
The audio clip was uploaded by Twitter user “Başçalan” (Prime thief) to YouTube late on Tuesday.
The revelation is bound to create both legal and diplomatic troubles for Ankara in the international arena given the unfolding sectarian strife and violence that has rocked Africa’s most populous country.
Nigeria has been suffering from repeated clashes between the central government and the radical Islamist group, Boko Haram, and other factions in the North of the country.
Mehmet Karakaş, Executive Assistant of Turkish Airlines CEO, Hamdi Topçu, is heard talking with Mustafa Varank, an advisor to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, about a cargo of deadly materials carried by THY planes to Nigeria.
It wasn’t clear whether or not the cargo was a weapons shipment and Today’s Zaman has not been able to verify the authenticity of the leaked recording.
Karakaş is heard asking Varank to seek the opinion of National Intelligence Organization, Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, over the nature of the cargo, because he had questions about the delivery address.
“I don’t know whether these (materials) will kill Muslims or Christians. Please put my worries to rest,” Karakaş is heard saying to the prime minister’s advisor.
The THY Press Consultancy office released a statement on Wednesday, in which it denied allegations that the airline had carried weapons to Nigeria.
The statement claimed that the company carries arms in accordance with international rules and regulations and that company policy does not allow arms to be sent to countries on the United Nations Security Council’s blacklist.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party’s Bursa deputy, Aykan Erdemir, held a press conference about the recording in Parliament on Monday, in which he asked the government if today’s Turkey is a country that illegally supplies weapons to terrorist organizations like Boko Haram in Nigeria.
Erdemir stressed that Boko Haram is responsible for the death of an estimated 10,000 people since the group was founded in 2002, adding that the organization is not recognized as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
TODAYSZAMAN.COM.
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