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General Staff to be queried over coup plans
Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel, one of the prosecutors in the second Ergenekon trial, which for the first time is bringing retired generals to court on charges of involvement in a coup plot against the government, asked the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is overseeing the case, to query the General Staff about whether the retired generals attempted to overthrow the government between 2002 and 2009.
In the second Ergenekon trial, a total of 56 suspects are being tried among whom are retired generals Şener Eruygur and Hurşit Tolon; former police chief Adil Serdar Saçan; journalists Mustafa Balbay and Tuncay Özkan; Col. Arif Doğan; the wife of Constitutional Court Vice President Osman Paksüt, Ferda Paksüt and Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) head Sinan Aygün.
The suspects are being questioned about their links with four failed coup attempts, codenamed Ayışığı (Moonlight), Sarıkız (Blonde Girl), Yakamoz (Sea Sparkle) and Eldiven (Glove).
The Ergenekon investigation started in June 2007 with the discovery of hand grenades at a house in İstanbul's Ümraniye district. Dozens of suspects, including army members, businessmen and journalists, have been arrested so far for suspected links to the terrorist organization.
Eruygur, Tolon and Doğan were previously released from prison pending trial for health reasons.
Eruygur and Tolon will appear before the judge on charges of being high-ranking officials of an armed terrorist organization. They are implicated in the Council of State attack in 2006, which left one judge dead, and a bomb attack at the Cumhuriyet daily headquarters in 2006.
Prosecutors are demanding three life sentences and up to 246 years of imprisonment for Eruygur and three life sentences and up to 219 years' imprisonment for Tolon. Two life sentences are sought for both retired Gen. Levent Ersöz and retired Col. Hasan Atilla Uğur, for “leading an armed terrorist organization,” “attempting to destroy a government of the Republic of Turkey,” “urging people to engage in armed resistance against the Turkish government” and “attempting to render Parliament ineffective.”
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