Erdogan takes legal action against Turkey paper over Syria claim

ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday filed a criminal complaint against a top daily newspaper and its editor for publishing images allegedly showing trucks belonging to the state intelligence service helping send weapons to rebels in Syria.

Erdogan has accused the opposition daily Cumhuriyet and its editor-in-chief Can Dundar of "publishing images and information contrary to the truth" and "obtaining and disseminating secret information," the official Anatolia news agency reported.

The Hurriyet daily, citing a copy of the complaint, said that Erdogan´s legal team had requested that Dundar serve one aggravated life sentence, one life sentence and 42 years in jail under the charges.

It said that the petition -- filed with Ankara prosecutors -- also requests that Dundar be charged with forming an organisation with the intention to commit crimes.

On Friday Cumhuriyet published footage from January 2014 showing Turkish security forces discovering boxes of what it described as weapons and ammunition being sent to Syria on National Intelligence Organisation (MIT) trucks intercepted near the Syrian border.

The daily said the footage was proof that Turkey was arming Syrian rebels -- a claim the Turkish government vehemently denies.

In an interview with state-run TRT television late Sunday, Erdogan accused Dundar of "espionage" and vowed to punish him by saying: "The person who made the story will pay a heavy price. I will not let him get away with it."

Erdogan on Tuesday again rejected claims that Turkey was aiding jihadists in Syria including the Islamic State (IS) group, claiming the intercepted aid was bound for the Turkmen minority in Syria.

Turkish prosecutors had already opened an investigation against the daily on charges of obtaining secret information, espionage and propaganda for a terror group.

The president´s lawsuit, filed by his lawyer Muammer Cemaloglu, is a separate criminal complaint.

As the complaint has been filed within Erdogan´s status as a private citizen, the fact he is president should -- in theory -- have no bearing on its treatment.