Ankara governorate admits unrecorded gun distribution

​Ankara governorate of Turkey admits distributing guns without any records during July 15 coup attempt
Monday, 12 June 2017 02:16

Ankara governorate published a statement on the local media news about gun distribution by the police without recording during the clashes of July 15 coup attempt. The news was about a murder with an MP-5 gun, which the murder suspect testified to had been distributed by the police in front of the Ankara Security Directorate during the night of the coup attempt.

In the official statement of Ankara governorate, it said on the night of the July 15 coup attempt, Ankara provincial security director Mahmut Karaaslan broke down the door of weapons store and distributed long-barrelled weapons and ammunition to the security personnel without waiting for any authorization. The distribution was made only to the security personnel after controlling their personnel IDs but without any debit entry, the statement said.

The statement also said that all the distributed weapons were retrieved after the coup attempt failed and only one MP-5 weapon was recorded to had been missing. The relevant units were informed for a nation-wide search for the missing MP-5. This MP-5 weapon in question was confirmed to had been on the possession of superintendent Cüneyt Bursa when he was martyred during the clashes of July 15 coup attempt, the statement said.

Although the murder suspect claimed to had used an MP-5 distributed by the police, it had not been located in the place where the suspect claimed to had hid it, the statement declared.

That the individual armament has state support in Turkey has been reported in several instances in the local media. Following the July 15 coup attempt, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) called on its civilian supporters to get armed under the pretext of "preventing possible coup attempts." Erdoğan’s Principal Consultant Şeref Malkoç also stated publicly that they would take steps to remove the difficulties preventing the citizens from purchasing guns.