Military finally stops turning blind eye, deaf ear to coup plans

The General Staff posted a statement on its Web site on Monday evening in which it announced that a new military investigation had been launched into a suspected plot against the ruling party and a faith-based group after its authenticity was confirmed.

The plot, titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, bears the genuine signature of Col. Dursun Çiçek and suggests that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) made systematic preparations to damage the image of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergenekon investigation and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the Ergenekon inquest. Ergenekon is a clandestine criminal organization accused of working to overthrow the government.

According to Reşat Petek, a retired chief prosecutor, new developments are looming on the horizon related to the plot itself and its instigators, implying that further detentions and new arrests could come as part of a suspended civilian investigation into the subversive document.

“I guess we will witness new judicial developments related to individuals who prepared the action plan and contributed to its preparation and implementation. I expect [civilian] prosecutors to take action against Col. Çiçek,” he remarked.

The General Staff statement went on to say that a military prosecutor recently demanded the arrest of Çiçek but that the General Staff Military Court refused to arrest the colonel on March 1. Çiçek was arrested twice, first in July and then in November, for suspected links to a terrorist organization, but was released after a brief detention in jail. The colonel is believed to be a key in the exposure of the pro-coup junta within the armed forces. The investigation is still under way at the Military Prosecutor’s Office, according to the General Staff.

In the meantime, Maj. Ahmet Erdoğan stressed in a recent report he prepared on another apparent military plot, titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, that supposing the plot was genuine and was prepared by members of the military, it aims to overthrow the government and seize full control of the country. Erdoğan recently forwarded his 32-page report to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The Sledgehammer plan was reportedly prepared at a military gathering attended by dozens of active duty members of the armed forces, including generals, and outlines a TSK plan to blow up mosques during Friday prayer and turn stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people who challenge the coup.

“If all documents related to the [Sledgehammer] plan are genuine, then we can say that participants of the meeting violated the orders and directives of the Land Forces Command. The objective of the plan was to get rid of the government and take full control of the country,” reads the major’s report.

General Staff acknowledges Çiçek’s plot not ‘piece of paper’

The General Staff’s statement also recalled that a military investigation was initiated after the coup document made its way into the media on June 12, 2009. The document was seized in the office of lawyer Serdar Öztürk, also an Ergenekon suspect, on June 4 during a police raid. In addition to the action plan, a large number of other military documents were seized at Öztürk’s office. Military prosecutors, however, concluded that no further legal action was required against the plot colonel.

Col. Dursun Çiçek (2nd from right) was arrested twice, first in July and then in November, for suspected links to a terrorist organization, but was released .

“On June 26, the esteemed chief of general staff [Gen. İlker Başbuğ] stressed that the decision of military prosecutors was not the final decision and that a new investigation could be launched if further evidence pointing to the authenticity of the plot was acquired. In the wake of news reports that the original version of the plot, which bears a genuine signature, was found, the General Staff Military Prosecutor’s Office initiated a new investigation [into the plot] on Oct. 26,” read the General Staff statement.

At a press conference at the General Staff on June 26, the military chief termed the coup plan a “piece of paper” and claimed that the document was fabricated with the aim of damaging and defaming the TSK. Başbuğ also said another investigation could be initiated by the Military Prosecutor’s Office if further evidence of the authenticity of the document was discovered. “We are a country governed by the rule of law. If new evidence pointing out the authenticity of the document is discovered, another investigation could be launched,” he vowed.

On Feb. 23, the Gendarmerie General Command’s Criminal Investigation Department announced that a signature that appears on the original copy of the plot belongs to Col. Çiçek. The signature’s authenticity had already been vouched for by the İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK) and the İstanbul Police Crime Laboratory.

A former chief prosecutor of the now-dissolved State Security Court (DGM), Mete Göktürk, suggested that Col. Çiçek could be arrested and put behind bars soon now that the Gendarmerie General Command’s Criminal Investigation Department has stated that the signature on the original coup plan belongs to the colonel.

“It is strange that the colonel is still not in jail despite the gendarmerie verification of his signature. Prosecutors may spur into action soon,” Göktürk noted.

Most observers believe civilian prosecutors will indict several high-ranking members of the military if they deepen their probe into the notorious action plan. Separate documents linked to the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism suggested that the armed forces established dozens of Web sites to back its psychological warfare against civilian groups. The documents feature the signatures of Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Hasan Iğsız, Brig. Gen. Hıfzı Çubuklu, Gen. İsmail Hakkı Pekin and Vice Adm. Mehmet Otuzbiroğlu.

Political scientist Doğu Ergil said Col. Çiçek was employed at the General Staff and the military hierarchy suggests that he received the order for the coup plot from his superiors.

“In hierarchy, colonels are preceded by generals. Every military officer receives orders from his superiors. At this point, we need to ask whether Çiçek’s superiors informed their superiors about the plot preparation. The fact that Gen. Başbuğ called the plot a piece of paper and strongly denied its existence suggests that he was misinformed by his inferiors,” he noted.

Ergil also suggested that the leak of confidential military documents that suggest preparation for a coup d’état shows that there is a strong faction within the armed forces that opposes the military’s intervention in politics.

The Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism first made its way into the media after a photocopied version of it was leaked to a Turkish newspaper by an unidentified military officer.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç satirized the General Staff’s delayed acknowledgement of the plot, which came almost nine months after it was published in newspapers, saying, “The signature [on the plot] has dried out.” When a photocopy of the plot was first exposed, its opponents claimed that it was fabricated by third parties, saying it did not bear a “wet” signature.

According to Faik Tarımcıoğlu, a retired military judge, the civilian investigation into the plot in question would continue, and it may even reach high-ranking officers. “Col. Çiçek plays the key role in this plot. The investigation may reach high-ranking members of the military as well. The results of the civilian and military investigations may be different. The main investigation is the civilian one, which is being conducted by İstanbul prosecutors,” he remarked.

Maj. Erdoğan: Participants kept Sledgehammer minutes secret Maj. Erdoğan also stressed in his report that participants of the Sledgehammer meeting did not inform the Land Forces Command about the content of the meeting, which was an open violation of a directive by the command.

Held on March 5-7, 2003 at the Selimiye Barracks in İstanbul, the meeting was attended by 26 generals and dozens of officers.

Then-Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Özkök had not received the minutes of the meeting, either. 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 that none of the documents published in the press related to the suspected coup plan had been presented to him.

According to the major, some high-ranking participants of the Sledgehammer meeting discussed issues that fall outside the scope of authority of the armed forces, but none of the 15 members of the military who attended the meeting as “observers” interfered.