Sledgehammer suspects hope to escape arrest until YAŞ meeting

The first phase of the plan is to have officers, among whom are 28 generals, avoid arrest until YAŞ convenes on Aug. 1. YAŞ convenes every August to decide on promotions and dismissals within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

The officers on trial have no chance at all for promotion at YAŞ in accordance with the TSK's official policy. Article 65 of the Law on TSK Staff stipulates that a member of the military who is imprisoned or is being tried cannot be promoted. In addition, Article 82 of the Regulation on the Personal Records of Military Officers requires the cancellation of an officer's promotion if he is promoted in violation of the law. The TSK has, however, not made its final decision on the Sledgehammer suspects.

Observers believe the armed forces may still work to promote the suspects in violation of the law.

According to the daily, arrest warrants for the arrest of the officers -- which reached the force commands recently -- will not be conveyed to the Sledgehammer suspects, who will in this way gain time before being arrested. Active duty officers still remain in office because they have not received the warrants. If the plan to delay the receipt of the warrants by officers fails, then another plan will be activated. This plan involves hospitalizing the suspects and citing various health reasons for doing so. Turkey witnessed the implementation of the plan with retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the former 1st Army commander. He is accused of being the mastermind behind the Sledgehammer coup plan.

The retired general was hospitalized shortly after he was detained on Sunday when his blood pressure reportedly increased. In the meantime, the lawyer for Gen. Yurdaer Olcan appealed to the court on Monday against the arrest of his client, saying the general recently underwent surgery for a cervical disc hernia and that his doctors recommended he rest at home for three months.

The second phase of the plan is to help the Sledgehammer suspects gain time before any arrest through appeals against arrest warrants. The suspects’ lawyers began filing appeals on Monday. Lawyers representing retired Gen. Doğan, retired Brig. Gen. Süha Tanyeli, Col. Çiçek, Rear Adm. Mehmet Otuzbiroğlu, Gen. Olcan, Gen. İhsan Balabanlı, Gen. Bulut Ömer Mirmiroğlu and 17 active duty officers have appealed their arrest warrants.

Doğan’s lawyer asked the İstanbul 10th High Criminal Court on Tuesday to suspend the arrest decision of his client before the court decides on the appeal.

Many others filed requests for a change of judge in the trial. Twenty-seven lawyers -- including those of retired Gen. Metin Yavuz Yalçın, retired Gen. Behzat Balta, retired Col. Tuncay Çakan and retired Adm. Özden Örnek -- in total have appealed the warrants for their clients’ arrests and requested a new judge.

Third phase: Seek political consensus to save officers

The third and final phase of the plan is to reach a consensus with politicians to save active duty officers from arrest and trial. Accordingly, officers who have reached the age of retirement will be forced to retire at this year’s YAŞ. In this way, the military will create the image that it is getting rid of the “rotten apples” within itself.

Officers who still have many years before retirement will be denied promotion at YAŞ. And they will be saved from being arrested. Some observers believe a meeting between the prime minister and the chief of General Staff late on Sunday was a strong indication of consensus between the government and the military against the arrest of the officers.

Retired prosecutor Gültekin Avcı said the Sledgehammer suspects should be detained by police anywhere they are seen as the arrest warrants have already reached the General Staff and the police departments. “Appeals against the arrest or requests filed for a change of judge in the trial will not impact their arrest,” he said.

In the meantime, a document drafted as part of the Sledgehammer plan showed that the junta prepared a list of military officers to be promoted after the planned coup. Among the officers are Ahmet Türkmen, Fatih İlğar, Gökhan Rahtuvan and Cem Aziz Çakmak -- all navy colonels. The colonels were to be promoted to the post of admiral after the coup.

Adnan Tanrıverdi, a retired senior general, responded to recent claims that the military would be placed in a tough position if the Sledgehammer suspects are jailed, saying that what would indeed cause trouble for the military would be its refusal to allow officers against whom an indictment was prepared to stand trial. “The TSK is not made up solely of the officers accused of coup plotting. The officers should be suspended until they are cleared of all charges,” he noted.

Retired Lt. Col. Tevfik Diker agreed, and said there are many active duty officers to replace the outgoing ones. “Hundreds of TSK members are either forced to retire or expelled from the military at YAŞ meetings. Outgoing officers are replaced by new ones. Claiming that the TSK’s ability to protect the country would be at stake if the officers on trial are removed from their posts would be an expression of a lack of confidence in other officers. This is injustice,” he added.