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Sledgehammer junta plans to assassinate coup opponents
According to the report, the plan is mentioned in details in the civilian indictment for the Sledgehammer document. Prosecutors overseeing the Sledgehammer probe believe the junta behind the coup plan prepared eight separate action plans to “get rid of” probable opponents of the expected coup d’état.
Sledgehammer is a suspected coup plot devised in 2003 at a military gathering. 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 plot allegedly sought to undermine the government and lay the groundwork for a military takeover.
One of the plans, titled Tırpan (Scythe), would kill academics who opposed the planned coup. Prominent Armenians would be murdered under the Orak (Grass hook) plan, right-wing figures under the Yumruk (Fist) plan, left-wing figures under the Kürek (Spade) plan, liberals under the Testere (Saw) plan, religious figures under the Döküm (Breakdown) plan, civil society representatives under the Urgan (Rope) plan and minority leaders would be killed under the Sakal (Beard) plan.
There are more than 190 defendants in the Sledgehammer case.
The indictment against the plot was submitted to the İstanbul 10th High Criminal Court last week. The court has yet to examine the document and either accept it or return it to prosecutors for further work. The 800-page document indicts 196 members of the military, both retired and active duty, over their alleged roles in the coup plan. None of the suspects are currently in custody. All of the previously imprisoned jailed suspects have been released from prison pending trial.
The assassination plans also included the names of coup opponents who would be killed by gendarmerie teams. One of the assassination teams would be led by former Kayseri Gendarmerie Battalion Commander Col. Cemal Temizöz. The colonel is currently in prison facing nine life sentences without the possibility of parole for the murder of several individuals by Temizöz and another colonel between 1993 and 1997.
Sledgehammer instigators also planned to kill hundreds of people in İstanbul’s most frequented mosques, Fatih and Beyazıt, on a Friday. A group of military officers would plant a remote-controlled bomb in shoe cabinets in the mosques, and the bomb would be detonated only seconds after the completion of the Friday prayer. In the ensuing chaos, a number of provocateurs would help increase the chaotic atmosphere inside the mosque.
A section of the Sledgehammer plan is dedicated to a number of Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) plots to create tensions between Turkish and Greek military aircraft, which would culminate in a Turkish jet crashing after a skirmish with Greek jets. The TSK would intentionally crash the jet if the plan failed.
According to the plan, Turkish military aircraft would provoke Greek pilots by entering Greek airspace. A dogfight between the aircraft of the two countries would result in the downing of a Turkish jet. If they were unable to provoke Greece, a Turkish pilot would crash one of the Turkish jets, blaming it on the Greeks. Subsequently, the Turkish media would accuse the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government of failing to ensure the security of the country.
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