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Two Sledgehammer generals still on active duty, claims daily
Titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, the plot was agreed upon in 2003 at a military meeting attended by 162 members of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), including 29 generals. According to the plan, the military was to systematically foment chaos in society through violent acts, among which were planned bomb attacks on the Fatih and Beyazıt mosques in İstanbul. The two are among the most frequented mosques in the city.
The mastermind behind the plan was reportedly retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, who was arrested last month on charges of membership in a terrorist organization.
Doğan sent a letter to Vatan this week in which he suggested that two generals who attended the notorious meeting are still on active duty, according to the daily. The letter reads that the meeting -- which Doğan refers to as “seminar” -- was attended by two delegations representing the General Staff and the Land Forces Command.
“During my interrogation, it has become obvious that the esteemed prosecutor knows the identities of the two generals who are currently on active duty. I have not put their names in this letter because I do not want to make them uneasy without reason,” the letter says.
Vatan also claimed that the two generals are Gen. Bekir Kalyoncu, the staff commander of the Land Forces Command, and Gen. Tevfik Özkılıç, the head of the 9th Army Corps.
The Sledgehammer plan is not the only document of its kind. A Turkish daily exposed similar suspected military plots in the past, sending shockwaves across the country. Among them were the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism and the Cage plan.
The Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism describes a TSK plan to damage the image of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the faith-based 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 inquest.
The Cage plan is believed to have been drafted by a group of Naval Forces Command officers to intimidate the country’s non-Muslim population by assassinating prominent figures in their communities and thereby undermine the power of the ruling party. Ergenekon is accused of working to create a chaotic atmosphere in Turkey so people would welcome a military coup against the AK Party.
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