Arınç slams Baykal for sarcastic comments on ‘cosmic search’

A civilian judge and prosecutor are currently conducting a search at the headquarters of the Special Forces Command, where confidential military documents are held, as part of a probe into a suspected military plot to assassinate Arınç. Two military officers were captured last month as they stood watch near Arınç's house in Ankara's Çukurambar neighborhood.

Addressing his parliamentary group on Tuesday, Baykal said: “Out of panic, military vehicles are stopped and people are detained. As a result of the search, ‘cosmic potatoes' are seized. I do not think that Turkey's institutions are clashing with one another. Indeed, the government is clashing with the institutions. … Arınç said they've stirred up a hornet's nest. The nest is the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK]. The chief of General Staff said there is an asymmetric psychological warfare being waged against the TSK. The government is behind this warfare,” Baykal remarked. In response, Arınç noted that an investigation was ongoing into the suspected plot and said he would deliver a comprehensive statement once the investigation was completed.

“I have a request for the press. Please ask the questions you direct at me to Baykal, [Kemal] Kılıçdaroğlu, [Şahin] Mengü and his friends. These are people who call the plot a ‘fallacy.' Yesterday, Baykal said before 70 million of our citizens that the search exposed ‘cosmic potatoes.' Baykal is mistaken. Ask Baykal about what he thinks about the eight Kalashnikov bullets sent to the judge and prosecutor conducting the search. I would expect him to call those bullets ‘cosmic chocolate.' … I am ashamed and sorry,” the deputy prime minister stated. Judge Kayan and prosecutor Bilgili informed Ankara police on Tuesday that they received separate envelopes in which they found bullets for Kalashnikov rifles.

An investigation was launched immediately into the envelopes, which each contained eight bullets. The bullets were sent to the Ankara Police Department for a ballistics examination. The two recently received similar death threats from unidentified parties, demanding that they end their historic search of the military archives.

Last week two vehicles were caught tailing Judge Kayan on Uğur Mumcu Street in the Turkish capital. At Kayan’s request, police stopped the vehicles and discovered that the occupants were military officers assigned to the 4th Army Corps and the Naval Forces Command. The General Staff, however, denied the “tailing claims,” asserting that the vehicles were on separate administrative tasks and were carrying drivers, carpenters and a cook who were headed to their commands after they completed the tasks assigned to them.

On Sunday, Kayan informed police that he had received a threatening letter saying that continuing his days-long search of the Special Forces Command archives would result in his death. After receiving the warning, Kayan started to bring his lunch from home to avoid being poisoned.

Prosecutor Bilgili also received death threats last week. He told police that he received a phone call from unidentified parties who told him not to investigate the assassination plot against Arınç; otherwise, his fate would be no different than that of late prosecutor Doğan Öz.

Ankara public prosecutor Öz was assassinated on March 24, 1978. He is regarded as the first prosecutor to examine the Gladio network in Turkey.

Baykal also held a press conference yesterday afternoon to respond to Arınç’s remarks. He said the government had turned the suspected assassination plot into a matter of “polemics.”

“It is obvious that the government is trying to settle issues through polemics; however, it will not be successful. … Many claims are being put forward. Then they are proven to be false. The deputy prime ministers are trying to change the country’s agenda with polemics,” he remarked.