İstanbul Bar Association officials summoned to testify in coup probe

This decision by the Silivri Prosecutors' Office came after the İstanbul 10th High Criminal Court filed criminal complaints against bar association officials who refused to provide defendants with lawyers. The court has also filed criminal complaints against defense lawyers who refused to attend hearings in protest of the court's decisions.

The suspects, which include Gen. Çetin Doğan, retired Adm. Özden Örnek, retired Gen. Halil İbrahim Fırtına, retired Gen. Engin Alan and retired Gen. Ergin Saygun, are accused of a failed attempt to destroy Parliament and overthrow the government. 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.

According to the plan, the military intended to systematically cause chaos in society through violent events that were intended to lead to a military takeover. Among the planned incidents were bombings of the Fatih and Beyazıt mosques in İstanbul and crashing a Turkish jet after a dogfight with Greek jets.