Retired generals to testify on coup allegations

Three former top commanders of the Turkish military’s land, sea and air forces are set to testify as suspects in the Ergenekon investigation into alleged coup plots in 2003 and 2004.

The three commanders, Aytaç Yalman, Özden Örnek and İbrahim Fırtına, are expected to testify at the Istanbul courthouse in Beşiktaş this weekend. Prosecutors will take testimony from the suspected, retired generals as evidence in the case.

The Ergenekon case is an investigation into a suspected gang that allegedly sought to topple the ruling government through undermining order in civil society.

The commanders are appearing in court after the alleged coup plots, codenamed “Ayışığı” (Moonlight), “Sarıkız” (Blonde Girl) and “Eldiven” (Glove), were mentioned during hearings last week.

During the hearings, the prosecution asked Mustafa Balbay, Ankara representative of the daily Cumhuriyet, who is also on trial and under arrest, whether he was involved in the alleged coup attempts.

The head judge later intervened asking the prosecution if there were investigations into allegations of a military coup. Prosecutor Mehmet Ali Pekgüzel said: “We are on the trail of coup allegations here that are at the core of the second case [investigating a military coup].”

Following the statement, Balbay asked: “[If I am here, then] where is Özden Örnek? [Why is he not here?],” referring to Örnek’s alleged coup journals from 2003 to 2005 that were published in Nokta magazine in March 2007.

The journals allegedly cover the initial stages of coup attempts to remove the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, from power, which would have caused Hilmi Özkök, president of the General Staff at the time who has testified earlier as a witness in the Ergenekon case, to resign because he was against the plans. Örnek has denied the authenticity of the journals even though their information has been shown to match with documents confiscated from Balbay.

Two Ergenekon prosecutors Zekeriya Öz and Fikret Seçen visited Özkök in İzmir on April 25 to get his testimony. Özkök said he was aware of some of the alleged coup plots mentioned at the time because he had received intelligence reports about them but had not acted due to a lack of evidence.

The second accusation in the Ergenekon case includes an expert opinion that suggests the journals are from Örnek’s computer. The accusation said no hard evidence has been found to directly link the top commanders to the Ergenekon gang, but the coup journals show that the commanders were involved in activities that included leaders of Ergenekon, and thus the prosecution claimed the authority to handle the investigation and question the commanders.

During 2003 to 2004, Yalman was top commander of the Turkish Armed Forces, Örnek was top commander of the Turkish Navy and Fırtına was top commander of the Turkish Air Force. Şener Eyurgur, former top commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie who served alongside the three former officers, is already on trial in the Ergenekon case but not under arrest.

The Ergenekon case began after the June 12, 2007 discovery of 27 hand grenades in a shanty house in Istanbul’s Ümraniye district that belonged to a retired noncommissioned officer. The grenades were discovered to be the same as those used in attacks on the daily Cumhuriyet’s Istanbul offices in 2006.

The discovery has lead to the detention of more than 100 journalists, writers, suspected gang leaders and politicians who have been interrogated in what has turned into a terror investigation to crack down on an alleged ultra-nationalist gang said to be called Ergenekon.

The name Ergenekon originally comes from a Turkish folk legend about Turks’ re-emergence from defeat by tricking their enemies under the guidance of a gray wolf.