Ambiguity over ‘state secrets’ major obstacle to probing subversive plan

“Parliament may set up a commission to investigate the alleged plan, but there are obstacles. The Turkish nation should see whether documents that constitute state secrets were also part of the scenario,” İyimaya told Today’s Zaman.

Dozens of parliamentary commissions have been established thus far, but almost none of them have helped dispel the mystery surrounding major incidents that shook Turkey. According to İyimaya, conflict over “state secrets” makes it difficult to set up a parliamentary commission and hinders commissions from performing fully even when they are established.

It is not clear which documents and information constitute state secrets in Turkey, as the government has failed to pass bills on the issue in recent years. The bills, drafted in 2007, were aimed at clarifying what constitutes classified information and documents. Among these laws are bills on state secrets, banking secrets and customers’ private information.

If approved, the drafts would become law and Parliament, courts and prosecutors would have the authority to request any information or documentation deemed necessary. Those who disclose confidential information or documents illegally would face terms of imprisonment ranging from one to three years. However, the drafts were never passed due to opposition.

İyimaya added that a clarification on which documents and information constitute state secrets would help improve democracy in Turkey. Recai Birgün, an independent İzmir deputy, complained that parliamentary commissions fail to shed light on Turkey’s dark past as they have no power to “apply sanctions.”

Mehmet Elkatmış, who headed the Susurluk commission, also said many individuals who could stand as witnesses in the Susurluk affair had refused to share their knowledge on the incident with the commission.

The 1996 Susurluk affair was a car crash that first revealed shady links between state officials and the mafia, indicating the existence of a long-standing illegal formation inside the state.

Observers slam coup plan, call for justice

The plot, titled the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan, has sent shockwaves across the country with a number of analysts and representatives of several civil society organizations denouncing those behind it. The document outlines the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) plans to topple the AK Party government through a series of bloody acts throughout the country. It is believed to have been drafted in 2003.

According to renowned security analyst Sedat Laçiner, who is chairman of the International Strategic Research Center (USAK), the Taraf daily’s claims are very serious. “There were also very serious claims regarding the Cage Operation Action Plan [a military plan exposed last year with a plot to assassinate non-Muslim figures and detonate explosives in museums in order to scare the public and make them turn against the ruling party] and the Action Plan to Fight Against Reactionaryism [which details a TSK plan to destroy the image of the AK Party government and the faith-based Gülen movement in the eyes of the public] as well. And yet, the necessary action was not taken regarding these claims. What I am afraid of is that the public will begin perceiving these plots as normal since the reality behind these claims was exposed,” he complains.

The head of the Association of Jurists, Kamil Uğur Yaralı, also stresses that those attempting to overthrow the government with a coup should stand trial. “The military officers who prepare thousands of pages of coup plans, forgetting their own duties, should also be tried for weakening the country’s national security. God forbid, if someone should attack the country, our officers would be caught plotting coups,” he says.

Radikal daily columnist and former State Minister Hasan Celal Güzel, whose name is also included in the alleged plot as a journalist who would be arrested after the coup is staged, recalls that he revealed a junta within the army years ago, which also included retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, who is thought to be the mastermind behind the Sledgehammer plan. “I stood trial in 1997 for exposing state secrets. Those responsible for this should be called to account,” he adds.