The indictment was forwarded to the İstanbul 12th High Criminal Court last week. It concerns an ongoing probe into an alleged plot to assassinate admirals at the Naval Forces Command. In July of last year, seven naval lieutenants were arrested on charges of plotting to kill two admirals, Metin Ataç and Eşref Uğur Yiğit. According to the indictment, the munitions discovered during police excavations in Poyrazköy would be used by a junta nested within the Naval Forces Command, under the leadership of retired Col. Levent Göktaş, to assassinate the admirals. The munitions were discovered on land owned by the İstek Foundation in April 2009. They are covered in a separate indictment which demands life sentences for five naval officers and lengthy prison terms for another 11 naval officers. The officers are accused of “membership in an illegal organization” and “attempting to destroy Parliament and the government.” They are accused of working to foment chaos in the country through violent acts to help overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.
The indictment into the assassination plot accuses 19 suspects, nine of whom are already under arrest. The suspects are accused of “membership in a terrorist organization” and “illegal possession of explosives.”
The new document claims that the officers hoped to use the munitions buried underground in Poyrazköy in the planned assassination of the two admirals. Among a long list of munitions are hand grenades, light anti-tank weapons (LAWs), rocket launchers, Kalashnikov rifles, assault rifles, thousands of bullets and various other explosives.
The document also recalled a series of planned attacks against individuals, included in the Poyrazköy indictment.
Agos staff wants to become co-plaintiff in Poyrazköy case
In the meantime, the staff of the Turkish-Armenian biweekly Agos newspaper has appealed to the İstanbul 12th High Criminal Court to become co-plaintiffs in the case against the Poyrazköy defendants.
According to the Poyrazköy indictment, subscribers to the Turkish-Armenian biweekly Agos newspaper were to be posted on a number of Web sites in line with the Cage plan. Agos Editor-in-Chief Etyen Mahçupyan said they were working on becoming co-plaintiffs in the Poyrazköy case. The former editor-in-chief of the newspaper, Hrant Dink, was killed by an ultranationalist Turkish teenager in 2007.
