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General Staff prepares to cancel plans examined by judge
Gen. Ferit Güler, the secretary general of the General Staff, said on Friday that the documents in the cosmic room were classified as “secret” and the search violated that secrecy, so the plans were no longer reliable and would therefore be cancelled.
He was referring to the civilian search of the Special Forces Command’s Tactical Mobilization Unit in Ankara that began on Dec. 25 as part of an investigation into an alleged military plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and which ended on Wednesday night.
Gen. Güler pointed out that events have been misreported “in order to strengthen the negative perception that is aimed against the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] in society.” He added that the General Staff allowed the search at the Special Forces Command’s Tactical Mobilization Unit because they have nothing to hide, but the search was misreported, he said, by saying that the “commandership was raided.”
In addition, he said the destruction of documents is a routine event at all commands but this was reported, he said, as “the military destroyed all documents.”
“The TSK has shown its respect for the rule of law. The TSK also knows that those who try to use dirty tricks against the TSK and try to show it as a criminal organization will continue to do so. The TSK has never been involved in illegal acts and it is not possible that it will be in the future. If there are individuals who committed crimes, the necessary judicial procedure will be taken,” he said. The cosmic search began after the capture of two officers from the Tactical Mobilization Group -- a unit of the General Staff’s Special Forces Command -- as they stood watch near the Arınç’s house in Ankara’s Çukurambar neighborhood.
Most observers applauded the search as they believe it will shed light on a number of murky incidents in the country’s past. The search aims to determine whether there is a military plot to assassinate high-level politicians.
Güler’s remarks came after media reports on a security action plan named “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer). The General Staff released a statement on Thursday saying that it was an action plan against a foreign threat scenario made in a seminar at the First Army Command.
“The Turkish Armed Forces is seriously investigating such leaks of information. There is an investigation at the First Army Command and we cannot make a final ruling before it is concluded,” Güler said. First revealed by Taraf daily on Wednesday and then reported in other media, some senior officers allegedly prepared the Sledgehammer coup plan which includes shady campaigns to foment tension in the country, ultimately leading to a military coup.
Friction between the strict secularist establishment, which includes the military, and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) have often surfaced. But in a victory for the military, the Constitutional Court late on Thursday overturned a law allowing military personnel to be tried in civilian courts.
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