According to the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, recently made public by a daily, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a systematic plan to create chaos in society by bombing mosques and attacking popular museums with Molotov cocktails. The desired result of the attacks was to increase pressure on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government over failing to provide security to its citizens. The attacks were to eventually lead to a military coup.Indeed, the Sledgehammer plan, which has sent shock waves across the country, was not the only plot prepared to stage a coup. Despite having been made public by the Taraf daily last month, it was, in fact, already mentioned in the third indictment prepared in the investigation into Ergenekon. “DVD no:51” listed in the indictment, a DVD seized in the office of ex-military officer and lawyer Levent Göktaş, one of the key suspects in the case, includes information about the Sledgehammer plan as well as eight other similar plots, which are Acar [Bold] prepared in 1998, Alev [Flame] of 2002, Altay prepared in 2001, Atak [Attack] of 2002, Barbaros drawn up in 2001, Yarasa [Bat] of 2004, Yılmaz [Dauntless] in 2002 and Yıldırım [Bolt] of 2001. The DVD also includes information about the names of the members of the judiciary, ministers, politicians and journalists to be arrested once the Sledgehammer coup was successfully staged.
The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, conducting the Ergenekon investigation, reportedly asked the chief of general staff about the Sledgehammer plot included in the DVD 11 months ago and they were told its was a “state secret.” In a letter of response written by the General Staff’s military prosecutor, Yavuz Şentürk, eight pages of additional documents were also included which confirmed the existence of other plots.
On DVD no:51, a number of files categorized as “top secret” were found, according to the third indictment. According to claims, this DVD includes personal information about 5,763 individuals, including the prime minister, the president and some members of the TSK. A spreadsheet titled “The Supreme Court of Appeals,” for example, lists the names of various members of the judiciary, categorizing them as “Leftist/Kurdish,” “Left/Trustworthy,” “Left/Alevi,” “Fethullah [Gülen]-affiliated,” “Conservative/Sect follower” or “Left/Democrat.” There was also information about the private lives of the individuals on the list such as “He has had an affair with a married woman,” or “He is the most incompetent employee in the agency” or “Active in the Judges and Prosecutors Foundation [YARSAV].”
