KavkazCenter :: Umma

On January 20th, the Turkish daily "Taraf", often critical of the country's defense establishment, published an article accusing the state's powerful military of planning a coup d'état, under the code name "Sledgehammer" (Turkish name Balyoz) in 2003.

The piece claims that the "Sledgehammer" plan sought to increase the tensions in Turkey by planning to attack two Istanbul mosques during evening prayer; provoking a crisis in Greco-Turkish relations by allegedly masking an attack on an airliner flying over the Aegean Sea as if it was orchestrated by the Greek Air force; introducing measures for mass arrests; taking control of various government bodies; deposing of the current administration by an emergency cabinet comprised of the members of the "Sledgehammer" plot; placing the members of the army and the supports of the coup in various high placed positions in state institutions, banks, immigration agencies etc.

In a subsequent article the newspaper revealed further details about the plot with information regarding the plan to detain over 200 000 people opposed to the coup holding them captive in two of Istanbul's stadiums as well as the lists of journalists that had to be detained only to be manipulated by the members of the Armed Forces involved in the coup.

Taraf insists that the 5000 page document detailing the plan was signed by the then Field Army General Cetin Dogan. The latter, now a retired military man, called the article a complete fabrication. Moreover, he declared that the publication distorted the plan that was intended for a virtual training session presenting it as one for a coup d'état.

The Ministry of Defense rebuffed the article citing similar reasons: the manuscript, which was to be used in a seminar for a training course offered in 2003-2006, was aimed for simulating the possible external threat that would fall under the responsibility of the Field Army headquartered in Istanbul.

Carsaf and Sakal

The "Sledgehammer" plan included a series of operations, two of which premeditated explosions in the Mosques of Istanbul - Fatih and Beyazit, during prayer. According to the sources, the attacks aimed to create the maximum number of casualties possible in order for panic and disobedience to ensue in the city. These operations were given two code names: the Veil (Carsaf) and the Beard (Sakal). The newspaper Taraf published the above plans in full. It also included the names of the officers of the Armed forces that were to detonate the explosives in the two mosques ten minutes prior to the beginning of prayer.

Why were these two mosques hand-picked? According to the news website www.islamdevleti.org, the mosques are located in the neighborhood of Istanbul that houses both the largest number of members of the religious group Ismail Aga and the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church.

The followers of Ismail Aga are renowned for their tolerant position towards the government, but they commonly lead secluded lives. Parents rarely let their daughters attend state schools and women wear veils and other Islamic coverings when appearing in public. Therefore the streets of the neighborhood represent paint a very regressive picture of the Republic in the eyes of the secularists. The website (www.islamdevleti.org) concludes that if those streets were to be eaten up in the flames of the dissidence Turkey would come to resemble Iran or even Saudi Arabia.

Labels

According to the information obtained by Taraf, "Sledgehammer" aimed to depose of the current government under the President Abdulla Gul and Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan. The publication notes that while the operation was planned for and from Istanbul it was the complete reorganization of Ankara that was planned.

Allegedly, 150 government workers (that were also party appointees) were to be arrested. Each "detainee" was labeled as either a radical Islamist, a husband of a wife in veil, a son of an imam etc. Taraf only published 29 names of individuals that were supposed to be arrested in 2003.

The information obtained by the newspaper contain some hundred files providing detailed description of the professional as well as the personal lives of the representatives of bureaucratic and administrative elites, head of the administration, bankers etc. All of these individuals are marked as either useful or not as a possible proponent of the coup d'état. Each file, according to the Taraf, includes a conclusion. Here is one of them:

"Attention, wears a silver ring"; "left-wing radical, declines all type of support, contact is available," "graduate of a religious school, voted for the Justice and Development Party," "father of a retired colonel, (candidacy) needs further investigation," "does not espouse an ideological leaning, under our control, can be trusted," "left-wing, proud, just, cannot be trusted," "without ideology, can be used," "weakness with regards to women and money, can continue to be used," "father a military man, refuses support, need more contact," "Mason, close contacts developed," "very important position, needs to be kept," "was in Israel, positive," "close to the Justice and Development Party, negative," "an unsuccessful career, alcohol and gambling" etc.

Truth or fiction?

On January 21st, the General Staff of Turkey denied all allegations regarding preparations for a coup d'état in 2003. The message on the Ministry's website declared anyone extremely foolish to manufacture such a plan. In the meantime, ten members of the Armed Forces were arrested for ‘leaked information'.

The Chief of the Turkish General Staff, Ilker Basbug, declared that it was unthinkable to "accuse the army that springs into battle with the cry Allah of plotting against the houses of Allah."

However, the retired Major Mustafa Hacimustafaoglu stated that he did not doubt the authenticity of the "Sledgehammer" plan since he himself had participated in very similar seminars in 1989. He added that the questions that were discussed during such seminars did not resemble those of a meeting between members of the Armed Forces, but more of a congregation of mentally ill patients. The former Major was quoted saying that ‘they' considers themselves to be the only patriots and the administrations was regarded as an occupation force. Hacimustafaoglu insisted that one can expect anything from individuals with such a mind-set, especially considering that it only takes to have a hijab - clad woman in one's family to be dismissed from the army.

Major Aviz Ai, also commenting on the declaration made by Basbug, noted that he was fired from the army solely because he practiced salah (the ritual Muslim prayer) and his wife wore a hijab. He added that beginning in 1977, when he started his career in the army, he witnessed people being kicked out not only for saying the word Allah but for simply giving their daughters the name of Sumeyya or Seyma. The Major encouraged for the Chief of the Turkish General Staff to apologize for this practice in general and to the affected people in particular.

The newspaper Taraf brought the readers' attention to the non-imaginary names of the "virtual" plan "Sledgehammer". Thousands of personal files, five thousand pages and not a single fictional name, the names of all the ‘virtual' enemies, starting with the members of the Justice and Development Party correspond to real individuals.

Prime Minister Erdogan was quoted as saying that the government was aware of the plot but continued to perform its democratically invested duties. The Army, according to the Prime Minister continued doing its "job" as well.

The Silver Ring

Much can be concluded from the above information. The most important conclusion is that the space for moderate Islam is being constrained in Turkey. Now, the simple act of wearing a silver ring is enough for one's name to appear on the black list that has also recently welcomed the veil and the minaret as unwanted symbols.

[1] photo from article