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Turkey charges seven military officers over coup plot
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February 25, 2010
Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Turkey_charges_seven_military_officers_over_coup_plot
A Turkish court on Wednesday charged and jailed seven senior Turkish
military officers for allegedly plotting several years ago to overthrow
the Turkish government.
The officers consist of four admirals, an army general and two staff
colonels. Among them were Admiral Ramazan Cem Gundeniz, Admiral Aziz
Cakmak, retired General Mehmet Kaya Varol, retired Admiral Ali Deniz
Kutluk and retired Admiral Ozer Karabulut. Also arrested were retired
General İbrahim Fırtına, who was Commander of the Air Force from 2003
until his retirement in 2005 and retired Admiral Ozden Ornek, Commander
of the Navy, also from 2003 to 2005. The court released six other
officers.
The seven were among more than 40 officers arrested on Monday over an
alleged 2003 plot to create chaos in Turkey and justify a military coup.
The military said in a statement that all top generals and admirals met
at the military headquarters yesterday to evaluate "the serious
situation" regarding the investigation
Last month ''Taraf'' newspaper stated it had obtained 5,000 pages of
documents and tapes on the 'Sledgehammer' plan, which was aimed to
overthrow the AK party (''Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi'') and to justify
an army takeover in 2003. According to the report on January 21 2010,
the army had plotted to provoke Greek fighter jets into shooting down a
Turkish military jet and plant bombs in Istanbul mosques. The Turkish
military had said documents were part of a military training seminar and
not meant to be carried out.
Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ on January 25 called these
allegations “unconscionable” and said they were part of a campaign of
psychological warfare designed to undermine public trust in the armed
forces.
“This is not something we’ve ever experienced in Turkey before, so it’s
very hard to predict what will happen,” said Etyen Mahcupyan, director
of the democratization program at Istanbul research institute Turkish
Economic and Social Studies Foundation. Possible military responses may
range from a mass resignation to a statement expressing faith in the
judicial process, he said.
29 of those detained are being questioned by Istanbul police and another
ten officers were brought before an Istanbul court on Tuesday morning
according to reports by ''NTV'' and state-run Anatolian news agency.
The Turkish Armed Forces have been responsible for 4 military coups in
Turkey of in last 50 years. Other senior military officers have been
arrested and indicted in separate plot to overthrow the government,
involving a supposed far-right, ultra-nationalist group known as
Ergenekon. Opponents of the government claim the ongoing trial of the
Ergenekon group is being used by the government to target political
opposition. The government rejects the accusation.
==Sources==
* http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-46430420100224?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0
* http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/24/world/AP-EU-Turkey-Coup-Plot.html
* http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-02-24/turkish-army-says-situation-serious-after-arrests-update1-.html
* http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=54575
* http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\02\24\story_24-2-2010_pg4_3