Turkish Airlines, Implicated in Arms Trafficking to Nigeria, Asks for Security Checks in Egypt

March 11th, 2016

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Turkish Airlines noted that it would have to deploy a security team to inspect Sharm Al-Sheikh Airport in Egypt before resuming flights to the holiday resort in April. Ironically, a Turkish Airline official was caught red-handed in a clandestinely recorded phone call, that revealed the Airline’s and Turkish intelligence circles involvement in arms trafficking to the Boko Haram plagued Nigeria.

Turkish Airlines plans to resume flights to the Egyptian Red Sea resort Sharm Al-Sheikh in April but requests that a security team first would have to inspect security at Sharm Al-Sheikh Airport. Turkish Airlines was one of the many airlines that stopped operations to and from Sharm Al-Sheikh after the fatal crash of the Russian Kogalmavia Airlines (Metrojet) Airbus 321 on Flight KGL9268 in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula on October 31.

Russian investigators, the Russian Defense Ministry and other Russian authorities claimed that the airliner was downed by a bomb on board. The crash resulted in the death of all 224 passengers and crew on board the plane. Egyptian authorities have been reluctant to confirm whether the airliner was downed by a bomb. However, Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, last month, stated that it was likely that the final result of the investigation would reach the same conclusion.

Many of the countries and carriers that suspended flights to Sharm Al-Sheik or Egypt have since resumed operations after Egypt significantly upgraded security at its airports. The tragedy has led to a dramatic drop in the occupancy rate of hotels in Sharm Al-Sheikh and a significant loss of revenue Egypt’s tourism industry in general.

But The Irony – Turkish Airlines Official and Erdogan Adviser Implicated in Arms Trafficking to Nigeria

Ironically, Turkey has since 2011 become one of the region’s main sponsors of terrorist organizations including the Syrian Al-Qaeda franchise Jabhat Al-Nusrah, the Libyan Al-Qaeda franchise the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, as well as Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood linked militants. Not to mention that Syrian oil , stolen by the self-proclaimed Islamic State, is being smuggled via Turkey.

In 2014 a clandestinely recorded phone conversation revealed that a Turkish Airlines official and an adviser to the then Prime Minister, now President R. Tayyip Erdogan were implicated in using the flag carrier to transport weapons to insurgents in Nigeria. The recording was of a conversation (allegedly) between Mustafa Varank, the chief advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan, and Turkish Airlines (THY) Executive Assistant Mehmet Karakaş. nsnbc has had the recording analyzed by a professional audio and voice recognition expert who noted that the recording appears to be genuine.

Karakaş was asking bluntly whether the weapons are “going to kill Muslims or Christians…,” and references were made to Turkish intelligence service MİT Chief Hakan Bey. (See video above). The leaked recording prompts the question whether or not Egyptian authorities should enforce special security checks of Turkish Airlines flights, passengers and cargo.

CH/L – nsnbc 11.03.2016