After a detailed examination of the documents, the İstanbul Police Department concluded they are part of the Sledgehammer plan and they were saved to Büyük’s computer in an updated form months after the seminar was held. The seminar was held at the Selimiye Barracks in İstanbul on March 3-5 in 2003.
Sledgehammer is a suspected coup plan devised at a military gathering in 2003 that allegedly sought to undermine the government in order to lay the groundwork for a military takeover. It included plans to crash jets and bomb large mosques at prayer hours to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) with the hope of eventually overthrowing it.
There were earlier claims that the Sledgehammer plan was devised during the military seminar in İstanbul and was not modified or added to after that. For this reason, critics of an ongoing investigation into the plan argued that suspects in the trial should be released from prison because they cannot be accused of preparing a plan during a seminar. Lawyers for the suspects appealed against the arrest of their clients three times, all of which were rejected by a high criminal court in İstanbul. The court said the suspects could destroy evidence or flee the country if they were to be released from prison.
The police search at Büyük’s house came on Feb. 20 after a tip was sent to the İstanbul Police Department by an unidentified person. “I’d like to give you information about a man who did not get caught though he is involved in the Sledgehammer case,” it reportedly read. Police seized a large number of documents from Büyük’s house, including copies of Sledgehammer as well as copies of the Oraj and Suga plans, both sub-plans in the Sledgehammer plot.
According to documents seized at Büyük’s house, those who contributed to the Sledgehammer plan would deny its existence, saying it is fabricated, if the plan happened to be exposed. The documents also show that they were saved after the 2003 military seminar, a strong indication that the instigators of the Sledgehammer plan continued to work on it afterwards. The documents on Büyük’s computer were saved in November of 2003.
