The End of a Myth

Today's Zaman's Ihsan Dagi wrote a piece about the Sladgehammer case.

The Balyoz coup trial, which started on Dec. 16, 2010, was concluded on Friday.

Most of the 365 defendants have been sentenced to 20, 18 or 16 years imprisonment. With one exception, all of those who have been acquitted are non-commissioned military officers. This shows that the court has conducted a fair and careful review vis-à-vis the low-ranking officers, who might have been involved in the coup attempt unknowingly. Of course, there is also the appeals process, following which the case will be finalized. However, though there might be some modifications to the convictions, it could be said that it is established the crime of coup plotting has taken place.

In the criticisms raised against the Balyoz trial, it is commonly argued that the case was politically motivated. Of course, a coup investigation has a political dimension. In a country like Turkey with a past of many coups, the people know the meaning of coup well. The impunity in past coups had a political dimension which contributed to the emergence of subsequent coups; the effective action against the coups now has a political aspect as well.

It has been possible to raise political discourse independent of the Kemalist elites and military bureaucracy following the rise of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) to power on Nov. 3, 2002. During this process, some coup attempts have been made against the AK Party. The April 27 memorandum and the Constitutional Court's decision on the presidency of Abdullah Gül were of a political nature; they were explicit support by the judiciary of coups. True, politics is everywhere. But which politics are we talking about?

Is it political preference or action to halt an elected government, stage coups and rely on the state institutions to achieve these goals? Is it not a better policy to create a country where these acts would not go unpunished? Support from people who are sick of coups and who have lost sons to the coups for a government backing coup trials is, true, a political stance.

Besides, the defense side has adopted an extremely political attitude and position since the beginning of the case. They have insistently and frequently argued that the defendants were secular and Kemalist military servicemen, and that for this reason they could not be considered criminals, and that they were dealing with conspiracies performed by the AK Party and the Gülen movement. Back then, nobody complained that this approach could harm the case and put pressure on the court.

Of course, the convicted parties have families and relatives; and they are sad now. I wish this had never happened. We are not happy when others suffer out of revenge. But justice should also be served. Had this coup taken place, I would not have written this column. This is very serious. A serious coup attempt was identified, and a competent independent court investigated it. The updated list of names of people to assume roles in the interim government formed following the coup is out there. We have seen this before. By this ruling, the structure of the Turkish military, which generates coups and harbors the pro-coup juntas, has also been convicted. The military would have remained reconciled to these structures if the Taraf daily had not published the Balyoz coup plans, if brave prosecutors had not initiated a process of investigation and if the government had not backed these initiatives.

And this is exactly what should be questioned. This coup mindset might be in decline now after the Balyoz and Ergenekon cases, but does that show that it is therefore completely gone and eliminated, and that it has not turned into something else? I made this point in my previous column. The army has made many mistakes since Uludere, but because the incidents are not properly identified and investigated, we are unable to understand what is going on. I cannot help wondering whether a different method is being tried against the democratic regime.

There is big difference between the submission of the military to the government and a truly democratic military. And the military has not gone through that process of reform. There is reason for us to believe that further coup attempts in Turkey may be possible.

Sledgehammer Case: Tapes of the Generals

Here is the actual voices of the generals who made a coup attempt to overthrow the elected government in Turkey a few years ago. Remember they got very heavy sentences for their attempts.
 

Three Former Turkish Generals Get 20 Years

Former 1st Army Commander retired Gen. Çetin Doğan (L), former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek (C) and former Air Forces Commander Gen. Halil İbrahim Fırtına (R) have been sentenced to 20 years in prison on coup charges. (Photo: AA)

 

21 September 2012 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM

Three former Turkish generals, who were key suspects in the Sledgehammer coup trial, have been sentenced to 20 years in prison on coup charges, a ruling that is expected to help curtail the Turkish military's hold on politics.

 

Former 1st Army Commander retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, former Air Forces Commander Gen. Halil İbrahim Fırtına and former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek were initially given life imprisonment but the court said the three would only serve 20-year prison sentences because they were unsuccessful in their bid to topple the government. It acquitted 34 officers in the case, which has underlined civilian dominance over the once all-powerful military in Turkey.

Retired Gen. Engin Alan, War Academies Commander Gen. Bilgin Balanlı, retired Gen. Ergin Saygun, former National Security Council (MGK) Secretary-General Şükrü Sarıışık, retired Gen. Nejat Bek, retired Adm. Ahmet Feyyaz Öğütçü and retired Gen. Süha Tanyeri were also each sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Prosecutors had demanded 15-20 year jail sentences for the 365 defendants, 364 of them serving and retired officers.

The court issued 16 year jail sentences for 214 suspects, including the retired Col. Dursun Çiçek and retired military judge Ahmet Zeki Üçok, in the historic coup trial.

Çiçek was arrested on charges of preparing the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which sought to undermine the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government and the religion-based Gülen movement.

Among the 365 suspects, 250 behind bars and the rest pending trial outside of custody. The verdict session was the 108th hearing in the trial.

Suspects entered the courtroom to the applause of viewers, who sang various military anthems as the suspects, most of whom are of military background, walked in.

Four defendants delivered their final statements on the last day. The court adjourned before announcing the verdict.

On Friday, Naval Col. Hakan Mehmet Köktürk, jailed at Maltepe Military Prison, was taken to the İstanbul hospital of the Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA) reportedly after suffering a heart attack.
İsmail Tepecik, a lawyer for retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the main suspect in the investigation, said all suspects should be acquitted, speaking to reporters outside the courtroom before the session's start.

Security was tight outside the courtroom on the final day of the hearing. Those who entered the building were frisked and searched with the help of detector dogs. About 500 court viewers, 60 members of the press and 30 lawyers were allowed in.

Some of the highest-ranking former and current members of the military have stood trial in the Sledgehammer case, including Gen. Balanlı, former Air Force Commander retired Gen. Fırtına, former Naval Forces Commander retired Gen.  Örnek and former generals Doğan and Saygun, who both served as commanders of the 1st Army.

The 10th High Criminal Court heard the trial. All of the sessions were held at a courthouse built on the property of Silivri Prison. Military suspects in the trial were kept at the military prisons of Hadımköy, Hasdal and Maltepe. The suspects entered the courthouse at 1 p.m.

Presiding Judge Ömer Diken and the other members of the panel of judges entered the courtroom shortly after. After opening the hearing, Diken recalled that the court had adjourned on Thursday to discuss the verdict, but said it had not yet reached a decision. The court adjourned again after the four remaining suspects delivered a final statement.

Retired Gen. Alan, who was elected to Parliament from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) in the last election, is also among the suspects. Retired Gen. Levent Ersöz is another prime suspect in the investigation. He did not attend Friday's hearing.

While verdicts seemingly have stormed the public and sparked many debates, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan declined to comment on court rulings with regards to the Sledgehammer coup trial. He said the process will continue at least for a while regarding the appeal rights of convicts as they likely will appeal court orders to the Supreme Court of Appeals.

 “It is not true to make a comment at the moment. We’ll have the chance to make overall assessment after complement of the process.” Erdoğan said.

Sledgehammer: the beginnings

The first time the Sledgehammer plot was publicly discussed was on Jan. 20, 2010, when the Taraf daily claimed that a group of generals had conspired to overthrow the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, devising a plot titled the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan. The daily claimed that among the plans of the generals was bombing the Fatih Mosque, one of İstanbul's biggest, during a busy Friday prayer and other atrocities to shake public confidence in the government. The plot was devised in 2003, according to the paper. The next day, the İstanbul Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into the claims. Forty retired generals and officers on active duty -- including high-ranking former and current generals or admirals Doğan, Süha Tanyeri, Saygun and Özden Örnek were detained on Feb. 24, 2010.

Seven people, including Ramazan Cem Gürdeniz, a senior admiral, were arrested in the first wave of arrest. On Feb. 26, Doğan and retired Gen. Engin Alan testified to specially authorized prosecutor Bilal Bayraktar, and were put under arrest by a decision of the 10th High Criminal Court, facing charges of “attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey with the use of force and violence.”

The indictment against the suspects was accepted on July 19, 2010. There were initially 196 suspects -- all of them retired or active duty military officers -- in the trial.

On Dec. 6, 2010, the trial took on a new course when nine sacks of documents were found hidden under the floor tiles at Gölcük Naval Command, detailing the alleged plot to overthrow the AK Party. The first hearing was on Dec. 16, 2010.

In June 2011, four more military officers were arrested in the trial. Prosecutor Hüseyin Ayar completed a second indictment on June 16, indicting 28 defendants, including Gen. Bilgin Balanlı and Gen. İsmail Taş. The indictment was accepted by the court on June 28, 2011, with the prosecutor demanding up to 20 years for the suspects on charges of attempting a coup d'état. On Aug. 15, 2011, the court started hearing the accusations in the second indictment.

A key arrest was made on Sept. 19, 2011, when Senior Col. Ümit Metin -- who was already under arrest as part of a separate investigation into an alleged plot to assassinate several naval admirals -- was arrested as a Sledgehammer suspect.

On Oct. 3, 2011, Gen. Beyazıt Karataş, who was wanted as a suspect, turned himself over to the authorities. Also in October the court merged the two indictments into a single trial. Yet a third indictment -- against 143 suspects -- was accepted on Nov. 23, 2011. This indictment was incorporated into the main trial on Dec. 29, 2011, bringing the total number of suspects in the trial to 365. On March 2 this year, former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt and Gendarmerie General Commander Gen. Bekir Kalyoncu testified in court as witnesses. On March 14, retired Gen. Ergin Saygun, another suspect who was wanted by the prosecution, turned himself in. He was arrested on the same day. On March 29, the prosecution delivered its 920-page opinion on the trial. On April 6, the court filed a complaint against 11 lawyers with attempting to influence a fair trial. On Aug. 3, retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök, who was the chief of general staff at the alleged time of drafting of the Sledgehammer plot, testified in court. He said he had warned the generals against crossing the line during a seminar in 2003 on the Sledgehammer plot -- which the defendants said was only a war strategy game. On Aug. 16, the defendants delivered their final statements.

Indictment basics and evidence overview

According to the Sledgehammer Indictment, soon after the general elections of November 2002, a full-fledged coup plan under the leadership of 1st Army commander Doğan was launched to topple the AK Party government. The plot contemplated the bombing of mosques, downing a Turkish fighter jet, the takeover of hospitals and pharmacies, the closing of NGOs, the arrest of journalists and politicians.

The indictment also charges that the coup plot was given a dress rehearsal on March 5-7, 2003 in a seminar at the 1st Army Headquarters.

The first evidence against the suspects emerged in January 2010, when an anonymous tipster delivered a suitcase to journalist Mehmet Baransu. The suitcase contained various materials, including documents not related to the investigation. Three CDs -- which formed the backbone of the prosecution's argument -- in the suitcase were the subject of the Sledgehammer investigation. The journalist shared the documents with the prosecutors shortly after obtaining them. The CDs contain documents that mention Sledgehammer and related activities such as operational plans (subplots the generals called Oraj, Suga, Çarşaf, Sakal), a list of civil society organizations that would be closed once the generals were in power, blacklists of individuals from various institutions, journalists to be arrested, vehicles, hospitals and pharmacies to be taken over and personnel assignments. Later, the documents found at Gölcük were added to the pile of evidence against the suspects.