Sledgehammer (coup plan)
Balyoz ( Turkish for Sledgehammer ) was the name of a plan or plan game of the Turkish armed forces with the aim to overthrow the reigning 2003 58th Government of the Republic of Turkey from 18 November 2002 to 14 March. Public were the plans on 20 January 2010 in an article by Mehmet Baransu, Yıldıray Ogur and Yasemin Congar in the daily Taraf. The plan should be drawn up on the staff of the 1st Army.
Accusation
The novel describes the intention to strengthen through a strategy of tension by means of attacks inside Turkey and provocations against Greece public acceptance for a coup. It should be ignited, for example bombs in crowded mosques. According to the indictment retired general Cetin Dogan was at the head of the conspirators. Dogan, the former commander of the First Army, accused the police of having tampered with evidence. The Turkish General Staff said the Balyoz plan as a plan game.
Investigations and proceedings
Ten days after the revelation handed the newspaper Taraf their material the prosecutor's office in Istanbul. The investigation had occasion to 49 arrests on 22 February 2010, including retired generals and active officers. Until 26 February 2010 31 members of the army were put on remand; 35 officers were indicted. On 19 July 2010 the Tenth took Grand Chamber of serious crime in İstanbul to the 968 -page indictment against 196 defendants. They were accused under Article 147 of the old valid (until 1 June 2005) Criminal Law to have made the attempt to forcibly restrain the executive branch of the Turkish Republic of fulfilling their duties.
The first meeting before the Tenth Chamber was held in the meeting room of the prison in Silivri on October 16, 2010. 187 defendants were present. Nine defendants, including retired General Ergin Saygun were not published. None of the accused was in custody.
At the hearing on 11 February 2011, the court issued an arrest warrant against 163 defendants. on the grounds that there is a risk of collusion. The present 133 defendants were immediately taken into custody. The Court provided further hearing days for the March firmly, starting on March 14. Meanwhile, it was the meeting room at Silivri prison, in which the first and second method to Ergenekon and the method of " action plan fight against fundamentalism " takes place, expanded.
In May and June 2011 followed by further interrogations; there were another 15 arrest warrants - against 15 members of the Turkish Armed Forces - pronounced. The investigation in connection with documents that were found in the house of Major Hakan Büyük in February 2011. In this context, the commander of the Military Academy, 4 -star general Bilgin Balanlı (63 ) was taken into custody. He is said to have (now a village ) arranged the flight control of the sect Menzil from Adiyaman on the farm Bilvanis in the province of Eskişehir.
On 20 February 2011, a further indictment was sent to the Tenth Grand Chamber. In it were 28 people (15 of them in custody in connection with the documents found at Major Hakan Büyük ) accused of having attempted to eliminate the Government of the Republic of Turkey. The prosecution demanded prison terms of between 15 and 20 years. If the indictment is believed the process could be associated with the procedure against 196 defendants.
On August 15, 2011, the first hearing in the second Balyoz process was held in front of the Tenth Grand Chamber. There were 26 defendants present, 21 of them in custody. The accused number one, 4 -star general Bilgin Balanlı, read a defense speech in which he dismissed the allegations of itself. The court directed a bias application to the Eleventh Chamber of serious crime in Istanbul and adjourned on October 3, 2011.
Mid-November 2011, a third 264 - page indictment against 143 suspects were ( of which 66 are in custody ) sent to the Tenth Chamber. It sets out a merger with the procedures 1 and 2 was required. After combining this method, the number of defendants to 244, 184 of them in custody, increased. If the third method is added, it will be 367 defendants.
Comments on the method
The arrest warrants in Balyoz process said the chairman of the CHP, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, " when the evidence has been collected, there is no reason for arrest warrants. This process has been politicized. The Prime Minister has repeatedly said that he is the prosecutor of the process. " Group vice- chairman of the AKP, Suat Kılıç said that he was ashamed to be a citizen of the Republic, that plans for an overthrow of the 2000s were uncovered. Guilty would be punished, of course. On the Balyoz method addressed, said the TÜSİAD Chairman Ümit Boyner that Turkey should be exempt from subversive and militaristic threats. One must achieve a situation in which the independence and impartiality was not affected by the courts in question.
After 5 April 2011, the court had rejected the second time the applications for release from prison, gave the General Staff issued a press statement. It was pointed out that the Turkish armed forces have repeatedly informed the authorities about the content of the seminars held and also the opinion that gave the prosecutor's office in order to take clear position. Therefore, it is difficult to understand why the court had ordered the continuation of the pre-trial detention. The Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin regretted the statement of the General Staff, as they cast a shadow on the jurisdiction. The Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik the ACP called the declaration an intervention in an ongoing process. The U.S. ambassador to Ankara Francis J. Ricciardone said that a transparent process was expected and he was trying to understand how freedom of the press could be discussed when journalists are arrested. The Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik the ACP called this an interference in internal affairs.
The judgment
On September 21, 2012, the tithe of the Balyoz ( sledgehammer ) announced Grand Chamber of serious crime in Istanbul their judgment in the 108th meeting known method. Of the 365 defendants, 250 of them in custody, 81 defendants were referred to in Article 147 of the old Turkish Penal Code ( TSG ) to hold the government of the Turkish Republic by force of the performance of their duties with the number 765 because of the attempt to aggravated life imprisonment. The penalties against the main accused Çetin Doğan, İbrahim Özden Örnek and Fırtına were reduced to 20 years in prison under Article 61 /1 of the old TSG. At 78 defendants, the court reduced the sentences on the same terms to 18 years in prison.
Against 214 defendants, the court imposed sentences of 16 years. 22 of these defendants was good leader to attest that their sentences to 13 years, 4 months imprisonment were reduced. Major Hakan Büyük received a sentence of six years in prison. A total of 36 defendants were acquitted. The arrest warrants against 250 defendants who are in custody, were maintained. The court also spoke of arrest warrants against six defendants who were in court and ordered the seizure of 69 defendants to. The case against three defendants were separated. The case against a defendant has been discontinued. Politicians from the ruling party Justice and Development Party ( AKP) expressed cautious, while the opposition criticized the verdict sharp.
Two convicts, Cem Ali Riza Aziz Cakmak and Sözen appealed against Turkey complaint to the European Court of Human Rights.