General Staff leaves many questions unanswered

Two members of the Special Forces Command, Maj. İbrahim G. and Col. Erkan Yılmaz B., were detained on Saturday night on suspicion of plotting to kill Arınç. Both officers are assigned to the General Staff.

The General Staff failed to explain why the two military officers, accused of plotting to kill Arınç, were in possession of the home address of the deputy prime minister and why one of them tried to destroy the piece of paper featuring the address when he saw police officers approaching. The paper allegedly bears a genuine signature from the Ankara General Command. The statement also failed to clarify why no record or document was discovered in the vehicles, houses or offices of the officers concerning the monitoring a member of the military about whom they were allegedly gathering information.

The General Staff claimed that the officers had been assigned to gather information about a member of the military who was accused of leaking military information to third parties. The military member reportedly under surveillance resides in an area close to Arınç’s house, the General Staff claimed. But sources stated on Thursday that no member of the military resides in Arınç’s neighborhood. In addition, no surveillance device was discovered in the officers’ vehicles.

After the capture of the suspected officers, gendarmerie and police teams launched a search of the suspects’ houses, resulting in the discovery of several maps showing the houses of top government officials and ministers. A document showed that Arınç had been closely monitored by the two officers since March 2009. Several pages of hand-drawn sketches giving the addresses of President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin were also seized during the search. The sketches were sent to the forensics department of the Ankara Police Department for analysis to determine by whom they were drawn.

One other unanswered question concerns the authority of military officers to gather intelligence about another officer. The General Staff did not explain why they assigned the duty to the two officers instead of asking the military’s intelligence units to do it. The staff also did not clarify whether it had obtained court permission to monitor the activities of the suspected military officer.

In addition, the General Staff did not reveal the rank or identity of the officer under Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) surveillance, either.

The General Staff statement did not address why the two officers had hired 10 vehicles from private car rental companies to explore Arınç’s neighborhood several times. Police also seized a fake press card belonging to Col. Erkan Yılmaz B. during the search. Prosecutors are investigating for what purpose the colonel was planning to use the card.

The General Staff chose to wait several days before releasing a statement on the alleged plot and did not inform the prime minister or the deputy prime minister about the claims in the meantime. The statement did not explain the real reason behind the General Staff silence. Instead of responding to people’s questions on the plot, the General Staff accused the press of reporting on the plan. The statement read that the reports were aimed at damaging the confidentiality of and the ongoing judicial process into the alleged plot.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik did not find the General Staff statement satisfactory and asked what the two officers had to do with the sketches showing the address of Gül, Erdoğan and Şahin. “Police seized such sketches. They were hand drawn. If the officers were gathering information about another officer, what did they have to do with sketches that included the addresses of state and government officials? We hope the plan was not targeting Arınç. The evidence seized so far has been forwarded to judicial bodies. The judiciary will evaluate it and see whether it can serve as evidence for a planned crime. The truth will emerge after their investigation,” Çiçek remarked.