The coup plot, called the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan by its creators, included plans to bomb mosques and even crash a Turkish jet to fuel tension with Greece, all in the name of creating chaos that, the plotters hoped, would provide the ideal grounds for staging a coup d’état.
The spine-chilling plan was allegedly drafted in 2003 by retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, who was commander of the 1st Army at the time. The Sledgehammer plan also includes details of the post-coup period envisioned by the generals, such as appointments to important posts in the bureaucracy and arrests of some journalists who they deemed unlikely to cooperate.
The Sledgehammer documents show that Kaya Varol, the commander of the 2nd Artillery Brigade at the time, made a list of mayors who would be displaced in İstanbul’s Maltepe, Kartal, Pendik, Tuzla and Sultanbeyli districts. According to the plan, Tuzla Mayor İdris Güllüce and Sultanbeyli Mayor Yahya Karakaya would be replaced by persons appointed by the military.
Güllüce, now a Justice and Development Party (AK Party) İstanbul deputy, told Today’s Zaman that he was shocked to see his name on the list of mayors to be replaced. Saying this was an indicator of how people wasted their time on the wrong things in Turkey, he noted that in his district the number of Alevi and Sunni residents is nearly equal, adding that the junta generals planned to disrupt the peaceful atmosphere in Tuzla.
“Since the Turkish Naval Academy is located in Tuzla, the district has many military officers. I served as the mayor there for 12 years, with the votes of military officers. But this plan shows that some in the district were unhappy with this. I don’t understand how they dare to dismiss a person elected by the people through a military takeover. I am appalled,” he said.
He also said the change the generals planned in Sultanbeyli might stem from the conservative populace of the district.
