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Operation Sledgehammer ( tr, Balyoz Harekâtı) is the name of an alleged Turkish
secularist military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
plan dating back to 2003,
[Balyoz Operation II: Squash Blossoms]
Article of Prof. Dr. Ihsan Bal, Director of USAK’s Center for Security Studies, published on 31 March 2010; accessed on 12 April 2011 in response to the
Justice and Development Party (AKP) gaining office.
Claims of the plot first surfaced in the liberal ''
Taraf'' newspaper, which was passed documents detailing plans to bomb two
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
mosques and accuse
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
of shooting down a Turkish plane over the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...
. The plan was to stir up chaos and justify a military coup. The army said the plans had been discussed but only as part of a scenario-based planning exercise at a military seminar.
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, 29 July 2011
Turkey: Military chiefs resign en masse/ref>
The case was heavily criticised by the political opposition for the suspected involvement of high-ranking bureaucrats and legal officials which were close to the
Cemaat movement, an Islamist movement led by exiled cleric and (then) AKP ally
Fethullah Gülen
Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish Islamic scholar, preacher, and a one-time opinion leader, as de facto leader of the Gülen movement. Gülen is designated an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Isl ...
. Numerous legal flaws and improper procedures throughout the case, and the lack of a response by the government also drew concern. This included the case that the original Sledgehammer document, claimed to have been produced in 2003, was actually created using
Microsoft Word 2007. Other irregularities included the forging of signatures of high-ranking military officers, such as that of General
Çetin Doğan Çetin Doğan (born 15 May 1940, Maçka) is a retired Turkish general. He was Commander of the First Army of Turkey (17 August 2001 – 20 August 2003).
Doğan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1960.
In 2007 Doğan was appointed he ...
.
In 2012 some 300 of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison terms, while 34 suspects were acquitted. The case was to be appealed.
On 19 June 2014 all the accused were ordered released from prison, pending a retrial, after a finding by the Constitutional Court that their rights had been violated. The timing of the decision fuelled further accusations regarding the involvement of the Cemaat movement initially, since by 2014 the AKP and Gülen had fallen out with each other. Furthermore, the then-AKP Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...
openly accused the Cemaat movement of infiltrating the judiciary following a
government corruption scandal, beginning a large-scale operation of either removing or relocating judicial and law enforcement employees.
On 31 March 2015 all 236 suspects were acquitted after the case's prosecutor argued that digital data in the files submitted as evidence in the case were faked and did not constitute evidence.
Plot claims
Reports of the alleged plot first surfaced in the liberal ''
Taraf'' newspaper on 20 January 2010. Journalist
Mehmet Baransu said he had been passed documents detailing plans to bomb two
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
mosques and accuse
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...
of shooting down a Turkish plane over the
Aegean Sea
The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...
.
['' Taraf'', 20 January 2010]
Darbenin adı Balyoz
, (original news in Turkish); accessed on 12 April 2011[ The plan was to stir up chaos and justify a military coup.
The extensive materials received by ''Taraf'', which were passed to prosecutors, formed the bulk of the prosecution case.
]
Arrests
On 21 February 2010 operations were carried out in nine provinces.['Hükümeti devirecek miydiniz?']
Article in Radikal
''Radikal'' () was a daily liberal Turkish language newspaper, published in Istanbul. From 1996 it was published by Aydın Doğan's Doğan Media Group. Although Radikal did not endorse a particular political alignment, it was generally considered ...
of 25 February 2010; accessed on 12 April 2011 49 people were detained including admirals, generals and colonels, some of them retired.[ On 23 February six of them were released, but seven were arrested. Another five suspects were arrested on 24 February.][ Further detentions and arrests followed, but at the beginning of April 2010 the number of people in pre-trial detention had dropped to nine, while 35 arrested suspects had been released, including prime suspect retired general ]Çetin Doğan Çetin Doğan (born 15 May 1940, Maçka) is a retired Turkish general. He was Commander of the First Army of Turkey (17 August 2001 – 20 August 2003).
Doğan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1960.
In 2007 Doğan was appointed he ...
, who had been the commander of the First Army. On 31 March and 1 April, 28 suspects in the investigation were released. A judge released 19 of the suspects due to the "existence of serious doubt regarding the crime". 9 others were released due to their "social standing."[Sledgehammer releases shakes belief in impartial judiciary]
Sunday’s Zaman of 4 April 2010
On 5 April 2010 an additional 95 people (including 86 military personnel, 70 of them on active duty), were detained in 14 provinces on the same day. Nine suspects released earlier were rearrested on 6 April. However, Istanbul's chief prosecutor, Aykut Cengiz Engin, ordered the removal of prosecutors Mehmet Berk and Bilal Bayraktar from the probe as his order "any detention decision should not be taken without my approval" was not abided by. On 6 April Engin also replaced coordinating prosecutor of the investigation Süleyman Pehlivan with Mehmet Ergül.
In May and June 2011 another round of interrogations followed resulting in the arrest of 15 members of the Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chie ...
.[Two more officers arrested in Turkey’s 'Sledgehammer' probe]
NewsAz of 7 June 2011; accessed on 14 June 2011 The arrests are based on documents reportedly seized in February from a house that belonged to Col. Hakan Büyük's son. The new evidence consists of written documents, video files and digital material on a flash disk, and includes plans to be put into action if the coup attempt were to fail.[
]
Trial
The trial started on 16 December 2010 with the first court hearing, held in the court house of Silivri Prison
Marmara Prison ( tr, Marmara Cezaevi) or officially Marmara Penitentiaries Campus ( tr, Marmara Ceza İnfaz Kurumları Kampüsü) formerly Silivri Prison is a high-security state correctional institution complex in the Silivri district of Ista ...
. The presiding judge, Ömer Diken, was appointed only two days earlier, after the previous presiding judge was removed because of an ongoing disciplinary investigation. 187 defendants were present.[Balyoz davası gergin başladı]
in Hürriyet of 16.10.2010; accessed on 12.04.2011 Nine defendants including retired General Ergin Saygun had not appeared.[ None of the defendants were in pre-trial detention.][
After the hearing of 11 February 2011 the court decided to arrest 163 defendants.][Balyoz'da 163 tutuklama]
News Agency Dogan of 11.02.2011; accessed on 12.04.2011 Meanwhile, the court room in Silivri Prison was extended.
Milliyet of 11.02.2011; accessed on 12.04.2011Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to ...
accepted the resignations and appointed Necdet Özel
General Necdet Özel (born 1950) is a Turkish Army general, who served as the 28th Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces. He also served as the commander of the Turkish Land Forces. General Necdet Özel is only the second in this ...
as the chief of the armed forces. The decision stamped the civilian authority on the country's military, which has long regarded itself as a protector of Turkey's secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
traditions."This is effectively the end of the military’s role in Turkish democracy," said Asli Aydintasbas, a columnist for the Turkish daily newspaper Milliyet
''Milliyet'' ( Turkish for "''nationality''") is a Turkish daily newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey.
History and profile
''Milliyet'' came to publishing life at the Nuri Akça press in Babıali, Istanbul as a daily private newspaper on 3 ...
. "This is the symbolic moment where the first Turkish republic ends and the second republic begins."
On 15 August 2011 Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 10 held the first hearing in the second ''Balyoz'' trial.['']Akşam
''Akşam'' (''Evening'') is a Turkish newspaper founded in 1918, owned by Zeki Yeşildağ's Türk Medya Grup (T Medya Yatırım San. ve Tic. AŞ.) since 2013. In 2013 it had a circulation of around 100,000.
History
''Akşams founders in 1918 incl ...
'', 16 August 2001
Dört yıldızlı duruşmada gerginlik! 'Sesinizi yükseltmeyin'
accessed on 16 August 2011 26 defendants were present, 21 of them in pre-trial detention. Prime suspect General Bilgin Balanlı Bilgin may refer to:
Given name
* Bilgin Defterli (born 1980), Turkish women's footballer
Surname
* Ali Bilgin
Ali Bilgin (born 17 December 1981) is a former German football player of Turkish descent. His versatility and ability to use both f ...
read out a 4-page defence pleading not guilty. The demand to recuse the court was sent to Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 11. The hearing was adjourned to 3 October 2011.[
In mid-November 2011 a third 264-page indictment was sent to Istanbul Heavy Penal Court 10, accusing 143 suspects, 66 of them in pre-trial detention with an attempt to overthrow the government. The prosecutor demanded to combine trial 1 and 2 with this case. After the cases 1 and 2 had been combined the number of defendants had increased to 244, 184 of them in pre-trial detention. Should this case also be merged the number of defendants will be 367.
]
Comments on the trial
When on 5 April 2011 the Court rejected the demands for release for the second time, the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces issued a press release.[Press Release BA 05/11]
, published on the website of the Turkish Armed Force on 06.04.2011; accessed on 12.04.2011 Reminding that the Turkish Armed Forces
The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF; tr, Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri, TSK) are the military forces of the Republic of Turkey. Turkish Armed Forces consist of the General Staff, the Land Forces, the Naval Forces and the Air Forces. The current Chie ...
repeatedly informed on the seminars in question and the expert opinion the prosecutor's office had demanded it was hard to understand why the court had ordered the continuation of pre-trial detention.[ ]Mehmet Ali Şahin
Mehmet Ali Şahin (born 16 September 1950) is a Turkish politician. He was the Speaker of the Parliament of Turkey from 2009 to 2011.
He was a member of the parliament for three terms from Istanbul Province and from Antalya Province of the ru ...
, President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( tr, ), usually referred to simply as the TBMM or Parliament ( tr, or ''Parlamento''), is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Cons ...
, stated that the press release casts a doubt in the judiciary in Turkey.[Şahin'den TSK'nın 'Balyoz' açıklamasına eleştiri]
CNN Türk of 07.04.2011; accessed on 12.04.2011 Deputy President of the AKP, Hüseyin Çelik called this an interference in an ongoing trial.[
US Ambassador to ]Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
Francis J. Ricciardone stated that a transparent trial was expected and he tried to understand, how freedom of press could be discussed, when journalists were being arrested. Hüseyin Çelik called this an interference into internal affairs.
Dani Rodrik
Dani Rodrik (born August 14, 1957) is a Turkish economist and Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He was formerly the Albert O. Hirschman Professor of t ...
and Pinar Doğan, son-in-law and daughter of chief suspect Çetin Doğan Çetin Doğan (born 15 May 1940, Maçka) is a retired Turkish general. He was Commander of the First Army of Turkey (17 August 2001 – 20 August 2003).
Doğan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1960.
In 2007 Doğan was appointed he ...
, stated, "what lies behind the trials is an apparent effort to discredit the government’s opponents on the basis of the flimsiest evidence and often, far worse, by framing them with planted evidence and forged documents" in their personal blog page.[Of the three sources mentioned i]
a separate article
only the one fro
The New Republic
entitled "Turkey’s Other Dirty War" is available without subscription, dated 24 May 2010; accessed on 19 May 2011 Commenting on all investigations in the Ergenekon cases they alleged: the key evidence is typically produced by anonymous informants; they provide the "originals" of secret documents detailing criminal activities and these revelations are followed by selective leaks to the media about the "evidence"[
Against this Fevzi Bilgin, Assistant Professor of Political Science, St. Mary's College of Maryland held, "Mr. Rodnik’s interpretation and presentation of the case is neither unbiased nor genuinely informational. It is also a platform to internationalize the grievances of the current military establishment in Turkey and defame the current government as being religiously motivated."][Sledgehammer (Balyoz): How Turkey Averted a Coup in 2003]
Washington Review of July 2010; accessed on 19 May 2011 In his opinion "It is rather likely that Sledgehammer was the first coup plan devised right after AKP’s victory in the parliamentary elections on 3 November 2002."[
On 16 January 2013 Mr. Orhan Aykut confessed to the '']Aydınlık
''Aydınlık'' ("Clarify" or "Enlightenment" in Turkish) is the newspaper of the Patriotic Party (''Vatan Partisi''). Originally launched as a weekly newspaper in 1921, it has been repeatedly closed and relaunched, most recently in 2011.
Histo ...
'' newspaper that together with Mr. İhsan Arslan
Mehmet İhsan Arslan (born 1 January 1948 in Sason) is a Turkish businessman and politician of Kurdish origin, a founding member of the deputy for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and also a former member of the Grand National Assembly of ...
(AKP deputy at the time) they received a suitcase of real Balyoz Seminar documents from Mr. Iskender Pala (who was expelled from the Turkish Navy for not being secular) at Movenpick Hotel in Istanbul in 2007 and using these documents they had created fake evidences with a group of specialists in Ankara to be used in Balyoz Case.
Verdict
On 21 September 2012 Istanbul Heavy Penal Court announced its verdict. Some 300 of the 365 suspects were sentenced to prison terms, while 34 suspects were acquitted. Three retired generals were sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment: Çetin Doğan Çetin Doğan (born 15 May 1940, Maçka) is a retired Turkish general. He was Commander of the First Army of Turkey (17 August 2001 – 20 August 2003).
Doğan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1960.
In 2007 Doğan was appointed he ...
(retired 1st Army Cmdr. General), İbrahim Fırtına
Halil Ibrahim Fırtına (born 1941 in Ordu, Turkey) is a retired Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 19 ...
(Air Force Cmdr. retired General) and Özden Örnek
Özden Örnek (2 February 1943, İzmit – 29 April 2018) was a Turkish admiral. He was the Commander of the Turkish Naval Forces from 2003 to 2005. In 2012 Örnek was sentenced to twenty years in prison for his alleged role in the 2003 "Sledg ...
(retired Navy Cmdr. Adm.) on charges of "attempting to overthrow the government by force" but the terms were later reduced to 20 years' because of the "incomplete attempt at staging a coup". In the case of 78 defendants (including Engin Alan) the court commuted aggravated life imprisonment to 18 years' imprisonment.[See the monthly report of the Democratic Turkey Forum (DTF) in German fo]
September 2012
or as detailed article in the dail
Radikal of 21 September 2012
both accessed on 22 September 2012 While 214 defendants received sentences of 16 years' imprisonment, one defendant was sentenced to six years' imprisonment. The court separated the case of three defendants and dropped charges for one defendant. Arrest warrants against 250 defendants in pre-trial detention were prolonged. In addition, six arrest warrants were issued against defendants attending the hearing and 69 decisions on apprehension were issued against defendants who had not come to the hearing.[
The verdict was to be appealed.
]
Fair trial intervention
In 2013 the President and Board of the Istanbul Bar Association were charged with attempting to influence members of the judiciary in the trial, after they had intervened in a 2012 hearing to demand a fair trial. The European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights said their intervention was legal and approved by the Presiding Judge at the time.[ELDH European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights, 13 May 2013]
Prosecution of the President of Istanbul Bar Association as well as its board members on charges of attempting to influence the members of the judiciary, indictment dated 30.01.2013
/ref>
Key actors
*General Aytaç Yalman (Commander of the Turkish Army, 2002 - 2004)
*General Çetin Doğan Çetin Doğan (born 15 May 1940, Maçka) is a retired Turkish general. He was Commander of the First Army of Turkey (17 August 2001 – 20 August 2003).
Doğan graduated from the Turkish Military Academy in 1960.
In 2007 Doğan was appointed he ...
(Commander of the First Army, 2001 - 2003)
*Admiral Özden Örnek
Özden Örnek (2 February 1943, İzmit – 29 April 2018) was a Turkish admiral. He was the Commander of the Turkish Naval Forces from 2003 to 2005. In 2012 Örnek was sentenced to twenty years in prison for his alleged role in the 2003 "Sledg ...
(Commander of the Turkish Naval Forces, 2003 - 2005)
*General İbrahim Fırtına
Halil Ibrahim Fırtına (born 1941 in Ordu, Turkey) is a retired Turkish Air Force
The Turkish Air Force ( tr, ) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Turkish Air Force can trace its origins back to June 19 ...
(Commander of the Turkish Air Force, 2003 - 2005)
*General Engin Alan (Chief of the Special Forces of the Turkish Army, 1996 - 2000)
*General Şükrü Sarıışık (Secretary-General of the National Security Council
A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...
, 2003 - 2004)
See also
* Sarıkız, Ayışığı, Yakamoz and Eldiven
* Ergenekon (allegation)
Ergenekon () was the name given to an alleged clandestine, secular ultra-nationalist organization in Turkey with possible ties to members of the country's military and security forces. The would-be group, named after Ergenekon, a mythical pl ...
References
External links
The Truth About The Seldgehammer Case
the webpage of the families of Sledgehammer Defendants
Turkey, Ergenekon, and Sledgehammer Plan
BBC:Top Turkish officers charged over "coup plot"
SONER CAGAPTAY What’s Really Behind Turkey’s Coup Arrests?
Website in English and Turkish
providing original documents such as the indictments as well as news and comments]
Moscow Show Trial on the Bosphorus
* ttp://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/03/turkeys-jailed-journalists.html Turkey’s jailed Journalists
The Deep State
{{Military coups in Turkey
Politics of Turkey
Greece–Turkey relations
2003 in Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan controversies
2000s coups d'état and coup attempts
Alleged coup attempts in Turkey