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Military statement on Arınç an admission of legal violations
This, many have noted, is in fact a violation of the law, since under a law that went into force on March 31, 2009, military officers cannot serve in city centers. The General Staff statement claimed that two Special Forces Command officers detained on suspicion of plotting to assassinate the deputy prime minister were in Arınç's neighborhood to gather intelligence about a military officer who was accused of leaking military information. However, the two men had maps showing Arınç's house on their person when they were captured. They are both assigned to the Tactical Mobilization Group, whereas an officer suspected of leaking information would be investigated by units of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT). Before the change in the law the gendarmerie undertook such investigations. However, in any case, officers with the Tactical Mobilization Group cannot conduct such an investigation within municipal borders.
Ordinarily for such an investigation the General Staff should have contacted the National Police Department for special permission if it wanted to send two military officers to Çukurambar, the district where the officers were apprehended. In addition, under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and the Code on Criminal Procedure (CMK), to monitor a person a court order is necessary, not unlike the necessity of a warrant for wiretapping phone conversations during an investigation. However, the General Staff's statement makes it clear that they did not follow this procedure.
Criminal complaints filed against Başbuğ, two military officers Solidarity for Justice Platform head Adem Çevik has filed criminal complaints against Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ and two military officers who were caught near Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç’s house last weekend in an apparent plot to assassinate the government official. Gendarmerie and police teams apprehended two military officers -- Maj. İbrahim G. and Col. Erkan Yılmaz B. -- after they received information that the two were planning to assassinate the deputy prime minister and noticed two suspicious vehicles in the vicinity of Arınç’s house last Saturday. One of the vehicles belonged to the General Staff, while the other was hired from a private car rental company. One of the officers allegedly tried to swallow a piece of paper when he saw the police approaching. The paper featured Arınç’s home address. Police also found several maps showing Arınç’s house in the two vehicles. After maintaining its silence for four days, the General Staff made a statement on Wednesday regarding the assassination plot against Arınç and accused the press of reporting on the plan instead of responding to people’s questions. “Protecting the confidentiality of an ongoing judicial process is a principle of law. However, recent incidents have shown that this principle has lost its validity to a considerable extent in our country. Details of this incident concerning two officers started to appear in the media on Dec. 21. There is a difference between reporting on the incident and reporting on it with details and commentary,” read a statement posted on the General Staff’s Web site. Submitting a petition at the Beşiktaş courthouse yesterday, Çevik spoke to journalists and said: “I think the General Staff was caught red-handed with the Arınç assassination plot. That is the reason why I lodged a criminal complaint.” İstanbul Today’s Zaman |
Arınç on Thursday said the General Staff's statement was tantamount to an implicit admission of the plot. “This statement is an implicit admission of the plot. I am a lawyer specializing in criminal law. Lawyers know what an implicit admission is,” he noted.
Maj. İbrahim G. and Col. Erkan Yılmaz B. were detained on Saturday night in an operation by gendarmerie and police teams in the Çukurambar area of the Turkish capital. Both officers are assigned to the General Staff. Ankara police were informed in early December by unidentified persons that a plan to assassinate Arınç had been put into motion.
Police teams also searched the suspects’ houses, discovering several maps showing the homes 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 containing 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 for analysis to determine by whom they were drawn.
On Thursday Arınç told reporters at a press conference that he wants to believe that a team of would-be assassins is not nested within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).
“We are engaged in politics. We have witnessed difficult days in politics. We have met people who were involved in illegal activities. We have seen what these kinds of people can do. But I’d like to believe with all my heart that a person who could commit such an act [assassination] against a deputy prime minister does not exist within the armed forces, Turkey’s most dignified and disciplined institution. I will be waiting for the conclusion of the ongoing judicial process,” he noted.
Arınç added that the conclusion of the investigation would reassure every citizen that they were once again able to lead a peaceful life in Turkey and that a state governed by the rule of law reigns in the country.
The deputy prime minister said he did not want to comment on the General Staff’s statement on the alleged plot, adding that he does not plan to file a criminal complaint at the moment.
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