Başbuğ’s remarks confirm state of denial, damage credibility

“His explanations are not convincing at all. He skipped many details on other coup plans allegedly prepared under his watch,” International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) Vice President Yusuf Alataş told Today's Zaman.

“The interview helps us understand why he is not taking officers suspected in these plots off the job pending the conclusion of the trial,” he underlined, adding that no military chief of general staff in the world speaks publicly as often as Başbuğ does in Turkey.

In the interview Başbuğ tried to defend his earlier position regarding the authenticity of a plot document that allegedly ties the military to schemes to topple the government. “The verdict is still out on that one,” he insisted during the interview and stressed that the investigation by the military prosecutor is still ongoing.

“We still do not know whether what we have is the original document,” he said despite overwhelming evidence indicating otherwise. Following the İstanbul Council of Forensic Medicine (ATK), the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and the İstanbul Police Crime Laboratory, the Gendarmerie General Command’s Criminal Investigation Department has also confirmed the authenticity of the document.

The plot in question, titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, was reportedly drafted by 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) government and the Gülen movement in the eyes of the public, to play down the Ergenekon investigation and to garner 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.

A new military investigation has been launched into a coup plot allegedly drafted by an active duty colonel after fresh evidence was uncovered that points to the plot’s authenticity. At a June 26 press conference at the General Staff, 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 of the authenticity of the document is discovered, another investigation could be launched,” he vowed. Yet he still insisted yesterday that he had no other way to describe the paper.

Başbuğ recalled 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 has been arrested twice, first in July and then in November, for suspected links to a terrorist organization but was released after brief detentions in jail. The colonel is believed to be key to the exposure of the pro-coup junta within the armed forces.

Critics also note that Başbuğ skipped mentioning the subversive Cage Operation Action Plan, an alleged Naval Forces Command plot to undermine the AK Party by assassinating prominent non-Muslim figures in Turkey and pinning the blame for the killings on the party. The plan further aimed at intimidating the country’s non-Muslim groups, which would hopefully increase internal and external pressure on the ruling party.

An Ergenekon-linked plot to launch a bloody attack on students visiting the Rahmi M. Koç Museum in İstanbul was reportedly part of the Cage plan. The plan was exposed in May after a large number of explosives were discovered in a submarine at the museum during the investigation into Ergenekon. The explosion was planned to occur on a day when the museum was being visited by a large group of students.

In an apparent reference to retired and serving officers who were arrested by the court for alleged coup plots, Başbuğ signaled that solidarity among officers is paramount and said that comradeship among “comrades in arms lasts until the grave.” The top commander’s defense drew the ire of intellectuals, who said Başbuğ was giving the wrong message to the public by trying to defend suspects in the ongoing case. “Comrades in arms should not turn into accomplices in crimes,” said Alataş, who warned that the defensive attitude would further damage trust in the military in Turkey.

To strike a further blow to his credibility, Başbuğ decided not to address the ongoing investigation in Erzincan. Suspects, some of them military officers, including Gen. Saldıray Berk, 3rd Army commander and close friend of Başbuğ, are being accused of implementing Çiçek’s Action Plan against Reactionaryism by framing individuals in certain religious organizations for crimes they did not commit by planting hand grenades and ammunition in their homes and offices.