Experts say military plot cannot solely be the work of Col. Çiçek

Çiçek is currently being held on coup charges. He is accused of having drafted the plot the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which details a systematic Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) plan to discredit the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the Gülen movement, to downplay the Ergenekon investigation and to gather support for members of the military arrested as part of the Ergenekon investigation. Ergenekon is a clandestine criminal organization accused of working to overthrow the government.

According to the indictment, the colonel prepared the plot without the knowledge of his commanders, and many high-profile figures, including 3rd Army Commander Gen. Saldıray Berk, were “victimized” by the document.

However, the action plan features the signatures of several high-ranking military officers, which shows the document was actually drafted with their knowledge, or possibly on their orders. Among those who signed the document are Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Hasan Iğsız, Brig. Gen. Hıfzı Çubuklu, who serves as legal counsel to the General Staff, Vice Adm. Mehmet Otuzbiroğlu, General Staff intelligence head Gen. İsmail Hakkı Pekin and Gen. Mehmet Eröz.

Retired Col. Mesut Ülker argues that such an action plan could not solely have been the work of Çiçek. “It would not be convincing even if the colonel said he prepared the document on his own. The document is too detailed a plan to be prepared by a single colonel. I believe the military indictment aims to put the entire blame on Çiçek,” he said. Retired Maj. Şahin Akdoğan agreed and said the indictment hopes to acquit all suspects other than Çiçek. “Çiçek must have had a team prepare the action plan. Such documents require an organized working group. I believe the General Staff had knowledge of the preparation and existence of the action plan,” he remarked.

Retired Lt. Col. Şenol Özbek, a former colleague of Çiçek, said the military would not allow a colonel to prepare an action plan against the government on his own. “This plan has the ability to impact on the entire country. How could Çiçek manage to prepare such a plan on his own?” he asked. Özbek, who spent two years working with Çiçek, retired in 2004.

Military chief says no contradiction between his words and indictment

In a clear attempt to address the widespread conviction that the findings of a newly drafted military indictment have come to refute his earlier remarks about who disclosed the military plot to a Turkish daily, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ spoke with the Milliyet daily on Thursday and stated that he stands by his remarks that the plot was disclosed by the police.

“There is no contradiction [between my remarks and the military indictment]. I stand by my remarks. If you read the indictment carefully and reconsider the course of developments [related to the plot], you will see that no such contradiction exists,” Başbuğ told Milliyet’s Fikret Bila.

While on a television program last week, the military chief complained about the disclosure of the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism to Taraf, without stating the daily’s name, and claimed that the document was sent to the newspaper by police, an argument not made before. It was previously thought that Taraf received the plot document from an unidentified military officer.

However, an indictment prepared by the military prosecutor’s office accused Çiçek of disclosing the document to the newspaper so it would be widely covered by the media in order to undermine the Turkish military. Çiçek is believed to have prepared the plot, and is currently being held on coup charges.

“In order to understand why no contradiction exists, we need to closely examine the findings of the military indictment. The document says that the prosecutors have reached the conclusion that Çiçek may have handed the plot to individuals who later disclosed it to get attention for it in the media,” Başbuğ remarked, implying that Çiçek gave the plot document to police, who later sent it to Taraf.

The military chief also said the timeline of the plot’s exposure in the media confirms his argument.

“The document was first seized during a police raid at the office of lawyer Serdar Öztürk on June 4, 2009. The document was sent to the İstanbul Prosecutor’s Office on June 6. On June 12, the document was printed in the daily,” he noted.