Sledgehammer generals given red-carpet treatment

Retired Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına, who was interrogated in January by prosecutors conducting an investigation into Ergenekon, was among the detained in addition to former Naval Forces Adm. Özden Örnek, the writer of detailed journals kept between 2000 and 2004 on some of the force commanders' coup plans. Fırtına was detained in Ankara, where the police raided 14 locations. The detentions took place throughout Monday night and Tuesday. Twenty of the 49 detained are active officers. Retired Adm. Örnek, former 1st Army Commander retired Gen. Çetin Doğan and retired Gen. Ergin Saygun also did not testify to police, the report said. However, reports that came in late yesterday afternoon said Fırtına and Örnek would be appearing before prosecutors conducting the investigation today.

The only statement made on the generals' refusal to testify came from Atilla Hekimoğlu, a lawyer for retired Gen. Fırtına, who said his client would not be testifying to police. Mentioning a directive issued in 2006 on trying public servants, Hekimoğlu said: “My client is not going to testify here. The police cannot take his testimony under the directive. Only chief prosecutors can conduct an investigation into him, as he served as a force commander in the past. This place [the İstanbul Police Department] will only be used like a hotel.

He will not testify here.” Adding that his client was in good health, he noted that they expected that he would be referred to the courthouse as soon as possible. He said neither he nor his client had been informed about the charges Fırtına faces.

Hüseyin Ersöz and Barış Tepecik, two lawyers for Gen. Doğan, announced yesterday afternoon that they had petitioned the court on duty for his release. In their petition, the lawyers recalled that Doğan’s house in İstanbul and his summer house in Bodrum had been searched earlier, but no evidence of a crime had been found during these searches. The lawyers also said that Doğan, as a person who has held high office, would testify to prosecutors if summoned, adding that there was no reason for him to be kept in custody. The two lawyers also confirmed that Doğan had neither testified to the police nor to prosecutors.

Late Monday night, six of the retired military officers detained during the operation were taken to the Beşiktaş Courthouse in a police van. Those individuals were taken to the prosecutor’s floor; it was not clear whether they testified. Police continued to bring in Sledgehammer suspects throughout the night. No official statement was made on the identity of the suspects who have been taken to the prosecutor’s office so far. However, news reports said retired Adm. Ali Deniz Kutluk, retired Adm. Engin Baykal, retired Gen. Mehmet Kaya Varol, retired Col. Ahmet Metin Dikici, Ali İhsan Çuhadaroğlu and Ümit Özcan have already been referred to the prosecutors.

Also on Monday night, retired Gen. Engin Alan, who currently heads the Association to Strengthen the Turkish Armed Forces, was taken to the Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) for a physical examination for a second time at 4 a.m. on Monday night. Police did not make any statements as to why a second physical examination was necessary.

With all the 49 suspects coming in and going out at different times, the İstanbul Police Department’s counterterrorism and organized crime departments were busy Monday night. Procedures continued throughout the night, as some of the suspects were brought from other cities. Meanwhile, news reports said the retired generals were given separate rooms and a police officer with a university degree to keep watch. They were held in the police chief’s rooms and not placed in detention centers, reports said. There were eight generals, including Fırtına, at the organized crime unit, while the rest of the retired generals were at the counterterrorism unit. At around 3 a.m., families of the generals who came to visit were allowed in. Lawyers for the generals did not respond to questions from the press at that time. Police department correspondents reported that senior retired generals had grilled meatballs at night and toast for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

In addition to the generals listed above, retired generals Süha Tanyeli, Feyyaz Öğütçü, Ayhan Poyraz, Ayhan Taş, Mustafa Çalış, Yavuz Yalçın and Özer Karabulut and retired colonels Ümit Öcan, Emin Küçükkılıç, Kubilay Aktaş and Ali Karababa were also taken into custody.

Retired generals Kutluk and Yusuf Ziya Toker were also detained and taken to the İstanbul Prosecutor’s Office. There were searches at the homes of retired Gen. Doğan and retired Gen. Tanyeli, the former head of the General Staff’s Strategic Research and Study Center (SAREM), a foundation affiliated with the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). Doğan was detained later Monday afternoon.