Etiket coup

Niyazi Dalyancı The cacophony over the alleged “Action Plan against Religious Radicalism” continued to dominate the political agenda in Turkey as all the actors on opposing sides of the debate entrenched themselves in their positions refusing to yield an inch of territory to their rivals. Two separate meetings within two weeks between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug lasting more than an hour each, seemingly did not help to defuse the tensions either. At a lengthy news conference at the headquarters of the General Staff, Gen. Basbug met with veteran Turkish journalists and declared that after meticulous research and investigation within the army ranks and computers, no evidence had been found that the document that outlined plans for undermining the government and eradicating the Fethullah Gulen movement was written by the allegedly undersigned Navy Col. Dursun Cicek. He said, since the forensic study was carried out on a photocopy, because the original was missing, the experts were not able to establish without doubt that the signature really belonged to Col. Cicek. No further investigation of the case would be carried out by the military prosecutors provided that no new evidence comes up, Gen. Basbug said, adding that the file was sent to the Chief Prosecutor in Istanbul. Displaying ire at certain times, Gen. Basbug called on the civilian prosecutors to “find out who produced this piece of paper and what their purpose is.” Turkey’s Army Chief complained that “certain circles” are conducting an “asymmetrical psychological warfare” against the armed forces and called on those “who are trying to define themselves and their political positions in terms of armed forces,” to “pull their hands off the army.” When he was asked who those circles might be, Gen. Basbug said: “We have certain information which we […]