Etiket army

Army accused of playing horror games

Niyazi Dalyancı Dogfights over the Aegean would be intensified and if the Greeks fail to shoot down a Turkish air force jet, then a Turkish pilot would do it for them; bombs would be planted in two historical mosques during Friday prayers triggering mass demonstrations by Islamic fundamentalist men wearing beards and women in veil who will attack the Air Force Open Air Museum near the Ataturk airport hurling Molotov cocktails destroying the old aircraft on display there; military maneuvers would be held near the border with Greece leading to a hot confrontation with the Greek army and finally if the Turkish National Assembly does not approve putting the country under martial law the army would takeover the administration. These are the elements of a contingent scenario of war games held at the 1st Army Headquarters in the Selimiye barracks in Istanbul from 5 to 7 March 2003, according to the Taraf newspaper continuing its revelations against the unlawful practices that the Turkish armed forces allegedly indulge in against what they believe as the Islamic oriented government. For three days the newspaper serialized the horror scenario which also included names of bureaucrats and politicians who will be appointed to cabinet posts after the army takeover, also lists of journalists to be arrested and those who would be collaborated with under the new regime. According to Taraf, an officer who was serving at the army headquarters in 2003 gave the newspaper the documents of the war games dubbed “Balyoz,” meaning sledgehammer in Turkish, totaling some 5,000 pages, also including audio tapes of the military seminar at which 162 officers, including top-ranking generals, participated. Journalists of Taraf handed the CDs containing the evidence to Istanbul’s chief prosecutor who announced that he is opening an investigation into the allegations. Meanwhile, retired general Cetin […]

A first in Turkey: Media demands army chief to resign

Niyazi Dalyancı For the first time in Turkey demands for the resignation of an army chief was publicly voiced this week after the news that the original copy of the so-called “Action Plan” to topple the government of Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has been received by the public prosecutors, hit the newspaper headlines. Chief Istanbul Prosecutor Turan Colakkadi confirmed that the original copy of the plan which was allegedly drafted at the headquarters of Turkey’s General Staff was posted by an unidentified informer who is said to be a high-ranking officer. The action plan topped the political agenda in Turkey in June when it was published by the Taraf newspaper leading to a heated debate over the role of the army in politics. However, the prosecutors at that time said that they only had a photocopy of the document making it impossible to establish whether it was fake or real. It was again Taraf that published the informer’s letter and broke the news that the original copy of the action plan was in the hands of Istanbul prosecutors. The newspaper has been the source of many such revelations leading to allegations that the government is using it as a medium to leak secret information mainly against the army. The action plan signed by Col. Dursun Cicek, contained measures such as planting weapons at houses used by the Fethullah Gulen sect, which is a politically and financially powerful Islamic sect supporting the Erdogan government, and other steps to discredit the Justice and Development Party (AKP) of the prime minister. Col. Cicek was questioned by the prosecutors during a brief detention but was released later. Turkey’s Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug described the document “as a piece of paper” and vehemently denied that it came out of his headquarters. He demanded […]