Platform President Hasan Hüseyin Tanrıverdi, accompanied by other members of the group, submitted the official complaint to the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. Tanrıverdi told reporters they had submitted a list of signatures of members of the platform who demanded the trial of the perpetrators of the coup plan.
The complaint stresses that the people who prepared the plan or were ordered to prepare such a plan and put it into practice and those who ignored its preparation are suspects and should be tried.
The Sledgehammer coup plan, an almost 5,000-page document that was exposed by the Taraf daily in January, was reportedly approved at a military meeting in 2003 attended by 162 active duty members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), including 29 generals. According to the plan, allegedly drafted by retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the military was to systematically foment chaos in society through violent acts that would lead to a military takeover. The plan suggested bombing mosques during Friday prayers when the greatest numbers of people gather and deliberately shooting down a Turkish warplane in the Aegean Sea to escalate the conflict between Turkey and Greece, aiming to undermine the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the eyes of public.
The complaint alleges that under this plan the perpetrators would be committing crimes in violation of the Constitution, plotting to overthrow the government, harming the unity and solidarity of the country, inciting hatred and enmity in society, deliberately threatening public security and damaging places of worship.
“Nobody can execute acts that are identified as crimes in the law on behalf of institutional and national interests,” the complaint stated and demanded that the instigators should be identified and tried regardless of their positions.
