Sledgehammer deniers in tight spot with recent wave of detentions

The Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, which was first revealed by the Taraf daily in January, included shady plans such as bombing the most-frequented mosques in İstanbul to trigger chaos in the country with the ultimate goal of a military takeover. While the plan led to nationwide outcry, with many calling on the authorities to punish those behind it, some had suspicions that the plan was “fabricated to defame the military.”

“Although all these claims were so serious that they were referred to judicial bodies, some circles tried to play down the plot or said it was revenge by the government. Instead of saying such plans should have no place in democracies, they denied them, defended them or downplayed them,” Mehmet Altan, a columnist for the Star daily, told Today’s Zaman.

Eleven retired generals and several retired colonels were detained early on Monday as part of an investigation into alleged coup plots named the Sledgehammer and Cage plans, reportedly devised by the military members of Ergenekon, a clandestine gang charged with plotting to overthrow the government.

Police said the operation on Monday was launched when the National Police Department’s criminal investigations unit examined and verified the authenticity of documents regarding the Sledgehammer and Cage plans. The original documents were handed to the Ergenekon prosecutors by Taraf, which exposed both plans.

Retired and active duty military officers detained as part of the probe into an alleged coup plot called Sledgehammer were taken to the İstanbul Police Department yesterday.

The latest wave of detentions, which included retired Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına, retired Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek, retired 1st Army Commander Ergin Saygun and retired Gen. Engin Alan, was evaluated by many as a confrontation with those involved in subversive plans, while also putting those who strongly denied the plot in a tight spot.

According to Milliyet daily columnist Hasan Cemal, some circles still refuse to understand what is going on in Turkey, a country that is trying to confront coup plotters and the deep state. Cemal says some of these people are even deliberately trying to gloss over and play down the Ergenekon case. “However, what we are experiencing is based on such [strong] evidence that finding cover for them is becoming harder and harder every day,” Cemal notes.

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, who has been at the center of fierce criticism over his stance regarding recently exposed military plots aiming to overthrow the government, was the leading figure denying the Sledgehammer plot after it was revealed.

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ, who has been at the center of fierce criticism over his stance regarding the recently exposed military plots aimed to overthrow the government, was the leading figure denying the plot after it was revealed.

“How on earth could the Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] plan to bomb mosques? This is unjust. The TSK has limits to its patience. I denounce these claims. … We order our soldiers to attack [enemies] exclaiming, ‘Allah, Allah!’ How on earth would the TSK bomb mosques? Such claims are unjust,” the military chief stated shortly after the exposure of the plot.

According to the Sledgehammer documents, the TSK had a systematic plan to create chaos in society by bombing mosques and attacking popular museums with Molotov cocktails. The purpose of the attacks was to increase pressure on the government for failing to provide security to its citizens. The attacks were to eventually lead to a military coup.

The plan was drawn up in 2003 and discussed in a seminar held at the General Staff’s Selimiye barracks in March of that year. The General Staff has denied that the Sledgehammer plot was the subject of a seminar, saying it had no record of such an incident and defended itself by claiming that the Sledgehammer plan was merely a war game.

Opposition felt no need to question the plot

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal, who had previously announced that his party was “the advocate” of Ergenekon, was also sure the plot was fake and downplayed it, sometimes sarcastically. Last month, while downplaying allegations about a military action plan to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç and the Sledgehammer plot, Baykal said: “They said an assassination plan against the deputy prime minister had been uncovered. Then came new excitement. It was like ‘Aşk-ı Memnu.’ Every week, some circles are trying to inject new excitement into people’s lives with new coup scenarios.” Baykal was referring to “Aşk-ı Memnu” (Forbidden Love), a Turkish romantic drama television series adapted from a novel by renowned author Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil.

Although he had found the General Staff’s statements regarding plot allegations unsatisfactory, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli was also of the opinion that the recently exposed coup plots were fabricated to defame the military. “There is an obvious campaign being waged against the TSK seeking to smear its reputation,” he said, adopting the same discourse as Gen. Başbuğ, who has long accused the media of waging “asymmetrical psychological warfare” against the TSK while responding to junta formations within the military.

Turkish media failed once again in Sledgehammer case

While the Sledgehammer plot sent shockwaves across the country when it was first published by Taraf in mid-January, the plot, which is reportedly more than 5,000 pages long, received almost no coverage in the newspapers of some media outlets. The Hürriyet daily was one of the papers that virtually ignored the plot. Responding to criticisms over the failure of the paper to cover such a serious plot, the newspaper’s chief columnist, Oktay Ekşi, then said it was up to the paper’s editorial team to decide whether to publish a story or not and lashed out at critics. “You can publish it, but I don’t. It is none of your business,” wrote Ekşi in one of his columns in late January. Ertuğrul Özkök, the former editor-in-chief of Hürriyet and a columnist for the daily, also explained why the daily did not report on the Sledgehammer plot in its top story, saying: “How would we have reported on Sledgehammer? According to Taraf’s stories? Have we seen these documents? No.”

Star’s Altan links the efforts of some media organizations and politicians to turn a blind eye to the Ergenekon probe and subversive plots such as the Sledgehammer plan to the fact that there is still much to be revealed as part of the Ergenekon probe. “Ergenekon’s arms in the media, politics and the economy have not been exposed yet. If they had been revealed, we would understand the stance of some circles more clearly,” Altan remarked.