The Taraf daily published documents on Friday seized in the office of Serdar Öztürk, the lawyer of a retired colonel arrested earlier this year on charges of membership in Ergenekon, a clandestine criminal organization charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The documents, prepared in April of this year, include a detailed plan drawn up by Col. Dursun Çiçek and submitted to a department of the General Staff.

The documents revealed that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a systematic plan to damage the image of the AK Party government and the Gülen movement -- inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen -- in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergenekon investigation and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the inquest.

To date, dozens of people have been arrested in the Ergenekon investigation, launched after the existence of a gang bearing the same name was discovered in June 2007, when police found a house full of munitions in İstanbul. The neo-nationalist Ergenekon gang, suspected of having ties to various individuals and groups within state bureaucracy and the military, worked to create a chaotic atmosphere in Turkey so people would welcome a military coup against the ruling AK Party.

The multi-step plan calls on TSK members to be watchful about reports appearing in the press regarding links between the military and other groups and organizations.

“The TSK is seen as the only obstacle before the destruction of Atatürk's principles and the establishment of a new system based on religious tenets. They are publishing documents that aim to weaken the TSK in their own press organs. They are depicting the rallies, which have captured huge public interest, as though they were organized by Ergenekon. They are claiming that the TSK has close cooperation with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party [PKK] and other terrorist organizations under the umbrella of Ergenekon. They are preparing news stories saying high-level members of the military are of Jewish and Armenian origin. They are releasing voice recordings that allegedly belong to TSK personnel,” the document warns TSK members.

Several recordings allegedly of conversations of TSK members and their family members have been revealed in which they discuss their plans against the ruling party and the government.

The documents go on to detail a plan to defame the AK Party government and fight the alleged threat of reactionaryism in society. In accordance with this plan, press organs are to disseminate propaganda against reactionaryism and fundamentalism; TSK staff and their families are to be informed about this threat; and the military is to step up measures to prevent their documents from leaking to external groups.

Plan to cast shadow on Ergenekon probe

The documents also mention plans to discredit the Ergenekon investigation and reduce its credibility in the eyes of the public.

The TSK is to engage in an intense period of propaganda and stress that the military is not against people's religious sensitivities, according to the documents. It is to make press organs prepare reports on the immoral relations of TSK members who are suspected of reactionaryism. In this way, the public will question the credibility of religious individuals.

The TSK is also to urge newspapers to publish stories against the Ergenekon investigation and claim that TSK personnel are being arrested because of their fight against the threat of reactionaryism.

The documents also suggest that TSK members who are detained or put in jail should make statements in accordance with an outline determined by the military and emphasize that they are innocent and that they have been put behind bars due to their fight against powers that wish to change the regime in the country.

TSK documents target Gülen movement

Another section of the documents is dedicated to the fight against the Gülen movement.

The TSK wishes to create a harsh public reaction against the movement, the documents reveal. According to the documents, the military plans to depict the Gülen movement as being engaged in acts against the unity and regime of the country.

“Claims that followers of Gülen are attacking the TSK will be focused on so that people will say, ‘We are also Muslims, but these men are disseminating intense propaganda to wear down the military,” read the documents.

The TSK plans against the movement are, however, not restricted to smear campaigns. They aim to show followers of the Gülen movement as being engaged in illegal acts.

“We will enable the discovery of weapons, ammunition and documents at the addresses of Gülen's followers as if they were members of a terrorist organization. The movement will be named ‘Fethullah's Armed Terrorist Organization' (FSTÖ) and investigations into its members will be carried out by military prosecutors. We will focus on the concept of moderate Islam and emphasize that the Gülen movement aims to cause Islam to deviate from its original form,” continue the documents.

The documents also aim to urge press organs to claim that there is cooperation between the Gülen movement and the terrorist PKK as the latter does not target in its terrorist acts the schools established by the former in the eastern and southeastern parts of Turkey and in northern Iraq.

Police raids against the residences of Gülen's followers are also to reveal documents to foment enmity against Alevi and Alevism in the country, according to the documents.

As part of the plans, individuals are to be urged to appear in live TV programs and make statements on various issues, adding they are followers of the Gülen movement. "They will challenge everyone and accuse everyone who does not agree with them of being an Ergenekon member," read the documents.

The documents have drawn the anger of intellectuals, who have criticized the military for plotting against the country's citizens.

"A wing of Ergenekon infiltrates the military. But they don't work to expose it. The military's weapons are discovered at the addresses of Ergenekon members. They don't work to find who's behind it, either. They are working to declare the government as a body engaged in religious fundamentalism and labeling followers of the Gülen movement as members of a terrorist organization. If Gülen's followers are guilty, then the state will find their documents and put them on trial. No official body, including the state, judiciary, police or military, can enable the discovery of weapons at the addresses of these individuals. This is crime. And the state and the military does not have the freedom to commit crimes," stated Taraf's Ahmet Altan.

The TSK documents also revealed that the General Staff was in cooperation with fundamentalist groups to defame the Gülen movement. "Our men, like İskender Evrenesoğlu and Ömer Öngüt, will appear in TV programs and associate Gülen's group with fundamentalist groups," suggests the documents.

Evrenesoğlu and Öngüt are known to be members of hard-core religious fundamentalist groups.

Plans know no boundaries

Some sections of the documents reveal that the mastermind of the documents knows no boundaries when it comes to achieving its objectives.

Among the plans is a smear campaign to be launched against state schools where young students will be captured while praying.

Press organs will prepare news reports that AK Party members are living in luxury despite the ongoing financial turmoil, which has made thousands of citizens lose their jobs.