Sledgehammer generals questioned over synagogue, British consulate, HSBC bombings

Details of an interrogation of former military generals who were detained last week by civilian prosecutors investigating the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) plot continue to arrive.

According to reports, one of the major questions directed at former Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına, former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek and retired Gen. Çetin Doğan were questioned about whether highly destructive bomb attacks in İstanbul in 2003 were part of the Sledgehammer plan.

The three generals were detained last week as part of an ongoing investigation into the plan together with more than 60 others. Thirty-three of the detainees were arrested on coup charges, including Doğan. Sixteen others were released pending trial. Fifteen officers in custody were transferred to an İstanbul court for arrest on Sunday, but it was not immediately announced whether the officers were arrested or released.

Also yesterday, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ paid an unscheduled visit to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Prime Ministry. No immediate details were available about the content of the meeting. The meeting came only a few days after the two met at the Çankaya presidential palace to discuss recent developments in Turkey, including the detention and arrest of members of the military. Sources close to the Prime Ministry reported that the unexpected meeting signaled no “crisis” and was a continuation of a brief meeting between the prime minister and the military chief in Ankara. The request to meet reportedly came from Erdoğan.

Retired generals were questioned about a suspected link between deadly terrorist attacks in İstanbul in 2003, which targeted two synagogues, the British Consulate General and an HSBC bank, and the subversive coup plan.

On Sunday, several Turkish dailies reported that a pro-coup junta within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) trained around 800 civilians to foment chaos in society through bloody acts that would have eventually led to a military takeover. Two hundred of them infiltrated into a number of terrorist organizations, including the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the fundamentalist al-Qaeda, according to claims.

Prosecutors are now examining whether the al-Qaeda-backed suicide bomb attacks on two synagogues, the British Consulate General and an HSBC bank in İstanbul in 2003 were part of the Sledgehammer plan. More than 50 people were killed in the bombings, and as many as 700 were injured. Al-Qaeda terrorists claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The attacks came only eight months after the plan was prepared. The Sledgehammer plan was divided into four phases: “Preparation,” “Raising Fear,” “Shaping Public Opinion” and “Action.” The infiltration into terrorist organizations was part of the “Preparation” phase of the coup plot. According to the plan, terrorist organizations would be urged to launch bloody attacks that would eventually create the required atmosphere for a coup.

Örnek’s lawyer, Ali Rıza Dizdar, told reporters on Saturday that his client was questioned about the link between the İstanbul bombings and the Sledgehammer plan. “That’s a very grave accusation. We objected to the accusation,” he said.

The Sledgehammer timeline also coincides with a surprising increase in attacks by the terrorist PKK after a lengthy cease-fire. In August 2003, the PKK restarted its violent attacks. In this first assault, the PKK killed six police officers and five Turkish soldiers. In July 2003, the PKK began Molotov cocktail assaults at various spots in the East and Southeast. On Aug. 6, an attack in Mardin that left six police officers dead followed. Throughout August, a number of police stations and checkpoints in the Southeast were attacked. Four police officers died, and many others were injured. On Dec. 1, 2003, five Turkish soldiers died and four were injured in Nusaybin, a district in Mardin, when a land mine was detonated remotely by the PKK.

In the meantime, a Turkish daily claimed on Sunday that a report prepared by a General Staff representative who attended the military meeting in 2003 during which the Sledgehammer plan was drafted was not submitted to then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök.

The report read that participants discussed “out of the ordinary” issues during the meeting. The report was somehow prevented from being presented to the general, according to Sabah.

In early February, Özkök told reporters that he was not presented details of the Sledgehammer plot. Özkök, believed to have played an important role in preventing a possible military coup during his term as chief of general staff, said he had ordered a planning seminar to be held, but none of the documents that were published in the press in the past week were presented to him.