Mere Rhetoric: Is Turkey Smuggling Iranian Weapons To Syria? Umm... Maybe?

For the least couple of weeks, the pro-Kurdish site DozaMe.org has been following the aftermath of a PKK attack on a Turkish cargo train carrying a lot of weapons from a lot of strange places - and to very one strange place:

The Turkish cargo train with serial number 55555, which was attacked and derailed by HPG forces (PKK’s armed wing) on May 25, was transporting 300 rockets from Iran to Syria, reports Turkey’s biggest newspaper Hurriyet today. The derailed train turned out to be transporting containers filled with rockets. The containers carrying the rockets had been filed as transporting construction materials and were rolled into Turkey at the border point in Van. The containers were then transported to Lake Van and from there with ferry boats to Tatvan in Bitlis province where they were loaded onto train 55555. The train was then to be transported to Malatya and then to Islahiye before transported into Syria at the Yolbasi border point in Gaziantep province.

It's tough to imagine what mutual interests might unite the Turkish army in common cause with Iran, except... undermining the PKK. So there's certainly a world in which Turkey could see itself benefiting from a little Iranian sumthin' sumthin'. On the other hand, this would be an incredible risk. Turkey is a NATO ally for one, is an Israeli ally for two, and is trying to get into the EU for three - and even if none of those things were true, there's no conceivable way the cost/benefit on this makes sense. On the other hand, there are several links in the original blog posts to Turkish articles confirming that the train was attacked. Kurdish sources independently presented evidence about the munitions that were on board:

The Ozgur Gundem article lists the arms found in the train, as follows: 297 rockets, 1,032 mortar rounds, 762 Dragunov sniper rifles (Kanas), 54 machine guns, 135 boxes of "explosive substance" (C4? A4?), 120 boxes of mortar rounds, 775 boxes of "military equipment"

We certainly wouldn't object to knowing where they were coming from and where they were going.

References:
* Turkish media: Cargo train derailed by HPG was transporting rockets from Iran to Syria [DozaMe.org]
* IF YOU CAN'T STAND THE HEAT . . . [Rastibini]

Previously:
* Thousands Of Turkish Troops Stream Into Iraq
* Iranian Police Beating People For Drinking Beer
* Iranian Police Beating People For Drinking Beer

About

Omri Ceren is a PhD student studying Rhetoric at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. He lives in downtown Los Angeles.
Email: omri@mererhetoric.com
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