Turkish dailies claimed yesterday that the assassination orders came from colonels Tayfun Duman and Orhan Yücel. Naval lieutenants Sinan Efe Noyan, Faruk Akın and Alperen Erdoğan were arrested on Tuesday. The prosecutors accused the lieutenants of planning assassinations against two admirals, whose first names are Uğur and Metin. At the initial hearing at İstanbul's 11th High Criminal Court, the lieutenants were charged with “being a member of an armed organization,” and they were all sent to prison. According to dailies, during a raid police discovered a written note regarding the assassinations in the quarters of lieutenants Noyan and Akın. “Wait for an order for assassinating Uğur and Metin,” read the note. The note also said the order would come from colonels Yücel and Duman.
The lieutenants were interrogated over their suspected links with the colonels. Noyan denied the charges, saying: “During a police search of my house, I saw police officers taking out a nylon bag from the back of my refrigerator. I saw that there were bullets and a piece of paper in the bag. … It was the first time I saw all those explosives in my house. I don't know who colonels Orhan Yücel and Tayfun Duman are. What is written in the note makes no sense to me.” The lieutenants suspected links with Duman have, however, brought a question to minds over whether Col. Dursun Çiçek, whose signature was found on a highly disputed action plan against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), could also be implicated in the assassination plots against the two admirals.
Duman and Çiçek were interrogated on the same day by prosecutors conducting a probe into Ergenekon -- a clandestine organization charged with planning to topple the government -- as six other colonels. While Duman and the six colonels were released, Çiçek was arrested on suspicion of preparing the action plan. However, he was later released after an appeal by his lawyer.
There are also claims that the lieutenants were in close contact with Maj. Levent Bektaş, who was arrested in April for suspected links with a large cache of ammunition unearthed during excavations on land owned by the İstek Foundation in İstanbul's Poyrazköy district.
The military prosecutor's office has also launched an investigation into the claims.
The lieutenants are also accused of being involved in a sex and drug trade operation in order to provide funds to Ergenekon, a clandestine organization accused of planning to overthrow the government. Meanwhile, two other lieutenants were detained yesterday as part of the same investigation. Details on their detention were not immediately available.
