Subversive Cage Plot instigators to appear before court tomorrow

An indictment of the plot involves 33 suspects, all retired and active duty naval officers. The 65-page document calls for jail sentences of up to 15 years for three admirals on charges of membership in a terrorist group. It also seeks lengthy prison terms for 30 other defendants on similar charges. The indictment also contains six additional folders of evidence.

The Cage plan is a suspected Naval Forces Command plot to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) by assassinating prominent non-Muslim figures in Turkey and putting the blame for the killings on the party. The plan was intended to intimidate the country's non-Muslim groups, which was expected to increase internal and external pressure on the ruling party. In turn, weakening public support for the party was intended to eventually lead to a military takeover. According to the indictment, the naval plot team was coordinated and led by retired Adm. Ahmet Feyyaz Öğütçü.

The details of the Cage plan were found on a CD seized last year in the office of retired Maj. Levent Bektaş, who was arrested for suspected links to a large cache of munitions buried in İstanbul's Poyrazköy district. The discovery was made as part of an investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine gang whose suspected members are currently standing trial on charges of having plotted to overthrow the government. The plan called the killings of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and three Christians in Malatya an “operation.”

The indictment points to Vice Adm. Kadir Sağdıç and Rear Adm. Mehmet Fatih İlğar as the “number two and number three men” behind the plot. The two were interrogated in February by İzmir prosecutors as part of the Ergenekon probe.

In April of this year, the Cage plan indictment was added to the case file of the 2007 Malatya murders, in which three missionaries were brutally killed at a Christian publishing house.

In the first hearing on Tuesday, the İstanbul 12th High Criminal Court is expected to announce whether to merge the Cage indictment with an indictment on the Poyrazköy munitions. The Poyrazköy indictment demands life sentences for five naval officers -- Lt. Col. Ercan Kireçtepe, Lt. Col. Mustafa Turhan Ecevit, Maj. Eren Günay, Maj. Emre Onat and retired Maj. Bektaş -- on charges of “attempting to destroy Parliament and the government.”

Among other suspects mentioned in the cage indictment are Mücahit Erakyol, Deniz Erki, Tanju Veli Aydın, Emre Sezenler, Hüseyin Doğancı, İsmail Bak, Metin Samancı, Levent Gülmen, Aydın Ayhan Saraçoğlu, Bülent Aydın, Bora Coşkun, Süleyman Erharat, Murat Aslan, Emre Tepeli, İbrahim Öztürk, Halil Özsaraç, Gürol Yurdunal, Ümit Özbek, Bülent Karaoğlu, Daylan Muslu, Hüseyin Erol, Mehmet İnce, Alpay Belleyici, İsmail Zühtü Tümer, Levent Olcaner, Özgür Erken, Metin Fidan, Türker Doğanca, Mesut Adanur and Metin Keskin.

Retired Adm. Öğütçü’s name appears in Cage plan documents as “the president.” Öğütçü was forced to retire after last August’s Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), reportedly due to his suspected ties to Ergenekon.

Öğütçü was thought to be the most likely candidate to take the helm of the Naval Forces Command. According to a National Intelligence Organization (MİT) document, Öğütçü was one of the founders of the Karargah houses, which the Ergenekon investigation has revealed served as meeting places for generals plotting a coup, housing for hit men and as storage for munitions.

Öğütçü was implicated in the placement of blocks of TNT and other explosives at the bottom of a submarine on exhibit at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum. The explosives were found by police in July based on a plan outlined in the Cage plot. The explosives were to be detonated while a group of students visited the museum.

Highlights from Cage plan

The subversive plan was intended to be put into operation by a team of 41 members of the Naval Forces Command. The plan was divided into four phases: “Preparation,” “Raising Fear,” “Shaping Public Opinion” and “Action.”

As part of the “Preparation” phase, the names and addresses of the country’s prominent non-Muslims would be determined. Then it would be ascertained to which newspapers and magazines they subscribe; which schools they work for or send their children to; which associations or foundations they are members of; which places of worship they frequent; and where they hold their religious celebrations and rituals.

Then the action plan would jump to the second phase. Letters that included threatening messages would be sent to non-Muslim residents of Turkey. In the “Shaping Public Opinion” phase, the AK Party government would be accused of ignoring the “approaching threat” to the country’s non-Muslim population in articles to appear in the media. Several websites would be established to disseminate propaganda against the AK Party and criticize its domestic policies.

The most appalling phase of the plan, “Action,” would include the assassination of prominent non-Muslim figures. As part of this phase, bomb attacks would be launched in the Adalar district, home to hundreds of non-Muslims; figures who defend the rights of non-Muslims would be assassinated; percussion bombs would be planted in places close to the Turkish-Armenian biweekly, Agos; boats carrying passengers to the Adalar district would be bombed; prominent non-Muslim businessmen and artists would be kidnapped and their homes and offices would be set on fire. Individuals would claim responsibility for the incidents on behalf of “reactionary terrorist organizations.”

At that point, propaganda would be disseminated, pointing to the AK Party as the cause of the incidents. The party would be accused of falling short of ensuring the security of non-Muslims in the country. The action plan defined Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as an “enemy.”

Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ stated earlier this year that allegations regarding another apparent coup plan, titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan, were the most serious allegations the armed forces have faced so far.