Coup plotters no more than 10 people, Turkish minister says

Nuray BABACAN ANKARA - Hürriyet

Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroğlu speaks during a conference on Dec. 11.

Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroğlu said that the coup plotters are more or less 10 people and it is unacceptable to accuse 100 people, referring to the controversial Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot cases.

“The number of people who are involved in the coup plot is not more than 10. It is unacceptable to hold 100 people responsible [for the coup plot],” said Eroğlu, adding that he believed the former chief of staff İlker Başbuğ was innocent.

Eroğlu said he used to think that the accusations against Başbuğ were baseless and added that he still felt the same way.

“Particularly after seeing what is being done, I believe more than before [that İlker Başbuğ is innocent].”

Eroğlu said he agreed with the prime minister over the retrials of the Ergenekon and Balyoz coup plot cases. “If the fake evidence is produced, new witnesses and evidences emerged; the retrial must be possible with this new situation. Our friends are working for a legal ground for that and producing a formula [to enable retrials],” said Eroğlu.

Recently, there has been a debate about retrying the coup plot cases Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) going on in the Turkish political agenda, following one of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s advisers saying there was a “parallel state” within the state and it plotted a “conspiracy on the Turkish army.” 

On Jan. 10, Erdoğan told reporters there were “people who are unfairly in jail” in the Ergenekon case.