Doğan’s revelation came shortly after Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ said that the Sledgehammer plan was “serious” and needed to be investigated.
Previously, retired Ergenekon suspect Gen. Levent Ersöz had said, “If I don’t see the sunlight, no one ever will,” while he was also hospitalized for health reasons. In a voice recording later published online, Ersöz was shouting insults directed at former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt and Gen. Başbuğ. This had come at a time when Ersöz was about to be released from the hospital, making commentators conclude that he was looking for a way out of prison.
In a voice recording that allegedly featured his voice and that was made public last year, Ergenekon suspect retired Gen. Hurşit Tolon criticized the General Staff for turning a number of soldiers being probed in the investigation in to the prosecutors. Some observers say the suspects might be trying to send a message to some people, saying that those other people will also get in trouble if the suspects are not protected. In the alleged Tolon recording, the voice accused the General Staff of being “wimpy” regarding the Ergenekon investigation. He said it could have been possible for the General Staff to come and take Tolon out [of jail] with a special squad, saying it was impossible for the police or anybody else to stop the military.
In another similar incident, Dursun Çiçek, a colonel whose signature appears under a document titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which outlined methods to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) through illegal means, had told journalists outside the Beşiktaş courthouse that questions about another ongoing investigation into an alleged attempt to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç should be directed to the General Staff. This was also interpreted as a message.
Doğan himself penned a 16-page letter, excerpts of which were published in the nation’s newspapers on Saturday, saying two generals from the General Staff and the Land Forces had participated in the 2003 Sledgehammer meeting. “I am not disclosing their names here, because I do not want them to be unnecessarily disturbed.” This was interpreted as a possible message, as it came a few days after Gen. Başbuğ said the Sledgehammer allegations were very “serious.”
