General Staff carried on anti-gov't campaign until 2009, report says

The hard disks contain a large number of documents in which the General Staff makes mention of its plans against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government. According to the report, the General Staff complained that the government secured the support of voters in the impoverished east and the Southeast thanks to a number of social projects, such as the Village Infrastructure Support Project (KÖYDES) and the Municipalities Infrastructure Support Project (BELDES). “In order to decrease the popularity of the AK Party in those regions, rumors should be spread that the AK Party cooperates with groups, tribes and people that sympathize with [President of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), Massoud] Barzani,” read one of the documents.

The hard disks belong to the computers of the Information and Support Unit of the General Staff used between 2005 and 2009. Acting on a request from the court, the General Staff recently sent the disks to the İstanbul 13th High Criminal Court, which is involved in a trial against anti-government websites allegedly established by the military. The disks were examined by a group of experts, who prepared a preliminary report about their findings. The report was sent to the court earlier this week.

The 200-page report stated that one of the documents in the General Staff hard disks said that the AK Party managed to win the hearts of the people and increase its popularity among voters over time and that the General Staff devised plans to discredit the governing party in the eyes of the people.

The General Staff hard disks also provided information as to how the General Staff worked to downplay the Ergenekon trial and save suspects from prosecution. Ergenekon is a clandestine criminal network accused of working to overthrow the government. Dozens of members of the military as well as journalists and businessmen are standing trial.

Adem Yavuz Arslan, the Ankara bureau chief of the Bugün daily, said the hard disks show that the General Staff worked to undermine the government up until 2009 but expressed doubts that the General Staff has given up its efforts. “Are we sure that the efforts were stopped in 2009? We all said Turkey would not be the same and military tutelage would end in 2007 when the Ergenekon trial began. But time has proven us wrong. The new documents [retrieved from the General Staff hard disks] show that the pro-coup wing is still active and running,” Arslan stated in remarks to Today's Zaman.

The investigation into the propaganda websites began in 2010 based on evidence found at the home of retired Col. Hasan Ataman Yıldırım, another suspect in the websites case. Later, an anonymous tipster from inside the military sent an e-mail to inform the public and prosecutors that the General Staff had established 42 websites for the sole purpose of disseminating propaganda about the government and religious communities. Twenty-two military officers, seven of whom are generals accused of “attempting to overthrow the government,” are currently on trial as part of the investigation into the anti-government websites.

Former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. İlker Başbuğ was also arrested as part of the probe in January.

According to Arslan, the fight against military tutelage, or the hold of the military over politics, should focus on the pro-coup mindset rather than the wrongdoing of individuals. “You can arrest people but the anti-coup fight will not reach its objective unless the pro-coup mindset is rooted out. What needs to be done is the eradication of this mindset. As long as this mindset exists, Turkey will not be the winner,” he said, and added that the country may face another military coup like the one on Feb. 28, 1997 if the political powers, which remain strong today, lose strength some day.

The preliminary report went on to state that the General Staff sought to cooperate with secularist civil society groups and individuals who also oppose the Ergenekon trial in attempts to discredit the trial in the eyes of the people. “Books and brochures may be sent to the Atatürkist Thought Association [ADD]. Important writings and opinions [denouncing the Ergenekon trial] could be sent to opinion leaders, editors-in-chief of newspapers, leading columnists, civil society organizations, websites of those organizations and deputies. We may ask R.Z. to give lectures about the Turkish identity. We may work on projects to support G.K., V.Y., K.A. and D.P. who the Ergenekon operation wishes to passivize.”

The documents seized from the hard disks also featured plans by the General Staff to have authors write books on religious fundamentalism, which mainly criticize religious groups and the use of the Islamic headscarf.

‘Atmosphere not favorable for coup'

The documents stored on the General Staff hard disks also revealed plans by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) to stage a coup d'état against the AK Party government between 2005 and 2009. However, it is written in one of the documents, the atmosphere was not favorable to remove the AK Party from power either with without the use of weapons.

“The AK Party was swept to power in the July 22 [2007] general elections in compliance with the rules of democracy. The harmony of the AK Party with powers which have influence over Turkey [such as global capital, the US administration, the EU and the EU's locomotives Germany and France] is very strong. The powers support the AK Party, either willingly or unwillingly, in line with their own interests. The TSK, however, is not in harmony with those powers and it does not act in cooperation with those powers either. Any action [coup] to be taken without the harmony with those powers will bring heavy damage to the TSK,” the document warned, and suggested that the TSK, instead of a coup d'état, should try harming the positive relationships between the AK Party and the powers.

“The military should wait for the economy to shrink and political instability to come for a coup d'état,” the document added.

Reşat Petek, a retired public prosecutor, said the document has shown that efforts to send the AK Party, which began as soon as the party swept to power in 2002, are still carrying on. “Some are still making plans for a coup. They have not given up their aspirations. I am not satisfied with statements that the era of coups in Turkey is over. Similar things were also said in the 1990s, but we witnessed the Feb. 28 coup in 1997,” he stated.

Petek also said Turkey should immediately civilianize its laws and Constitution in order to put an end to the tradition of staging military coups.

In its documents, the General Staff also ordered members of the military to avoid contact with women who wear the headscarf. “You should not attend events to which headscarf-wearing women are also invited. Cite legal excuses instead. If you happen to see any headscarf-wearing at an event, cite an excuse and leave the place immediately,” the document also added.