The indictment on the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, popularly known as the plan against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the faith-based Gülen movement, was accepted by the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court on April 30. The indictment also includes allegations regarding the fate of the Lahika document -- originally exposed by the Taraf daily on June 20, 2008 -- saying the computer on which that document had been saved was destroyed. A military report confirming the computer’s destruction is included in the indictment. According the indictment, the General Staff, which denied the existence of such a document when it was first published in the Taraf daily two years ago, mobilized its resources to destroy the document.The official report included in the indictment shows that seven hard disks were smashed into pieces on the orders of Gen. Ergin Saygun on Aug. 5, 2008. Saygun was the deputy chief of General Staff at the time. According to a document from the indictment’s supplemental evidence folders dated Oct. 28, 2009 from the General Staff to the General Staff Military Prosecutor’s Office, also published by Taraf, the hard disks were destroyed in the office of Saygun’s aide Col. Uğur Berksun. The document is signed by Rear Adm. Bülent Bostanoğlu, head of the War Information Systems Unit (MEBS).
Team of destruction
The document states that the hard disks were “smashed” with no possibility of future data retrieval. The names of the officers who destroyed the disks are listed as Sgt. Muammer Tamay, naval engineer Lt. Erhan Sakallı, Col. Şükrü Kısadere and Col. Uğur Berksun.
The Lahika document, which included plans for propaganda and incitement to generate negative sentiments toward religious people in society, caused widespread discussion and controversy when it was published in 2008. On Nov. 17, 2009, Taraf published yet another document written by a military legal counselor to Saygun finding that Lahika is legally a coup plan and should be destroyed. The General Staff had said the allegations were manufactured and that the documents published by Taraf were fake.
