‘Çankaya summit may cast doubt on future of plot probe’

The separate weekly meetings President Gül ordinarily has with the chief of general staff and the prime minister turned into a trilateral summit this week.

This was apparently because of the military’s “uneasiness” regarding the latest wave of detentions of nearly 50 retired and active duty military officers earlier this week as part of an investigation into the Sledgehammer coup plot, allegedly devised by the military to overthrow the government.

A brief statement released following the meeting, which gathered the three at a round table and lasted three hours, said: “The issues which have been discussed recently were handled at the meeting. Our citizens should be sure that these issues will be solved within the framework of constitutional order and the law. It has also been underlined that everybody should act responsibly in this process in order not to wear down state institutions.”

While Gül aimed to ease the tension with the meeting and Erdogan said following the summit that the meeting was positive, observers said holding such a meeting at a time when an investigation into members of the military is ongoing contradicts the essence of democracy and the principle of separation of powers.

“If there was not an ongoing judicial process into the [Sledgehammer] plot, this meeting would have been normal. But such a meeting is not suitable in the middle of the investigation,” lawyer Ergin Cinmen told Today’s Zaman. Noting that it was already expected that the statement after the meeting would read as it did, Cinmen pointed out that what was actually discussed at the meeting is still unknown. “This meeting harms the current process, rather than being useful. It does not matter what happens from now on, whether some more are arrested or released. All decisions will be under suspicion,” he adds.

President Gül received PM Erdoğan and Chief of General Staff Gen. Başbuğ at the Çankaya presidential palace.

As tensions escalated after the detentions, which have thus far resulted in at least 20 arrests, Gen. Başbuğ met with 15 generals to evaluate the “serious situation” that erupted amid the Ergenekon investigation being conducted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, according to a statement posted on the General Staff Web site late Tuesday. There were also claims on Wednesday that government spokesman and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek was invited to the meeting on Tuesday, where the generals warned him against arresting the members of the military in custody, which added to the ongoing tension.

“Would a crisis erupt had painters in this country established a terrorist organization, plotted to stage a coup and interfered in the judicial process? No. The military is acting with the idea that ‘We can commit a crime. We can spark a crisis if we are detained or arrested.’ They are used to that. Can such a thing be possible? Is there such an army in the world? A summit is being held simply because those gentlemen are uneasy,” Star daily columnist Mehmet Altan told Today’s Zaman.

The meeting was reportedly held upon the suggestion of President Gül, who was expected to meet with Başbuğ and Erdoğan separately this week as usual. The summit was the first to gather just Gül, Erdoğan and Başbuğ together. While the top brass evaluated the current situation with the Sledgehammer detentions on Tuesday, Prime Minister Erdoğan, who returned from a trip to Spain on Monday also met with top government officials, including legal experts, that same day.

The top item on the summit’s agenda was undoubtedly the Sledgehammer probe. The Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, which was first revealed by the Taraf daily in January, included shadowy plans such as bombing the most-frequented mosques in İstanbul to trigger chaos in the country with the ultimate goal of a military takeover.

Eleven retired generals and several retired colonels, including former Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına, former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek, former 1st Army Commander Gen. Ergin Saygun and retired Gen. Engin Alan, 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.

Gen. Başbuğ, who has been at the center of fierce criticism over his stance regarding the recently exposed military plots aiming to overthrow the government, once again voiced the Turkish Armed Forces’ (TSK) uneasiness about the Sledgehammer probe at the meeting.

According to Star’s Altan, members of the military are in fact uneasy about being interrogated by judicial bodies. “Their biggest fear is law. They are making a statement, saying there is a serious situation. Yes, there is a serious situation in the army, since it has lost its discipline. But I think these debates will put Turkish democracy on the right track,” he says. Noting that judicial bodies in Turkey stand next to those who are armed and powerful, Altan says it is not just a coincidence that the judges whose rulings are most often overturned at the European Court of Human Rights are Turkish judges. “We have judicial bodies that are not ashamed of their verdicts. The law in Turkey defends the powerful, the state and the military,” he added.

International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Vice President Yusuf Alataş says the recently exposed military coup plots do not reflect the views of merely a few members of the military. “If it were so, the chief of general staff would not defend them like that,” he told Today’s Zaman. Noting that the issue is not just the possible trial of a few generals, he says the TSK’s relations with politics are being addressed. “That’s why they are so troubled and why we are facing such an extraordinary situation,” he says. Alataş proposes the establishment of institutions like the “truth commissions” established in some Latin American countries. “What the president should do is to enable the military to redefine the position of the military rather than trying to reconcile the military and the government with such summits,” he says.