According to the coup plan -- titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) Security Operation Plan -- all the key posts in the country, public and private, would be occupied by active and retired members of the military to “get rid of every single threat to the secular order of the state.”
“The plan will be based on an objective to clean up all state and public posts [of individuals suspected of posing a threat to the secular order of Turkey] and return Turkey to its dynamism of 1923. All the assets and financial resources of individuals and groups suspected of involvement in acts of reactionaryism will be confiscated, and necessary steps will be taken to freeze their financial resources abroad,” stated the document.
The subversive document, the Sledgehammer Security Operation Plan, was drafted in 2003, shortly after the AK Party came to power. The masterminds of the plan were retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the then-commander of the 1st Army, retired Former Air Forces Commander Gen. İbrahim Fırtına and retired Gen. Ergin Saygun.
Taraf claimed on Wednesday that the coup plan -- a nearly 5,000-page document -- was agreed at a military meeting attended by 162 active TSK members, including 29 generals. According to the plan, the military was to systematically foment chaos in society through violent acts that would lead to a military takeover.
A return to 1923 would mean almost paralyzing daily life in Turkey, according the plan. The document suggested that the armed forces would take full control of state institutions, private hospitals, drugs warehouses, customs houses and shopping centers after the military takeover. The headquarters of some newspapers would also be raided by the security forces.
“No rights or freedoms are absolute or limitless. When the case is the survival of the secular state, the right to inform the public and freedom of the press is not without limit, either. All written and visual press organs will be taken under control, and the publications of press organs that side with the AK Party will immediately be halted,” read the document.
The armed forces also planned to take into custody and then arrest at least 200,000 individuals accused of reactionary activities in İstanbul after the coup. The total number of detainees around Turkey was estimated to reach 16 million, the plan stated. According to the document, individuals who stood against the coup would be taken into custody and brought to large sports facilities for interrogation. Among those facilities were the Burhan Felek sports complex and Fenerbahçe Stadium. The suspects would be questioned by security forces there and then would be sent to prisons. If the prisons were unable to accommodate all the arrestees, then military barracks would temporarily be turned into jails.
The coup plan stated its objective very clearly: “The AK Party government will immediately be thrown out of government and the existing structure of reactionaryism will be destroyed. A previously determined group will be swept to power, and the authority of secular state will be restored.” The plan also said all “official and unofficial patriots” would be used to overthrow the AK Party government. “Those who resist the detentions and arrests and those who resort to plunder and damage the national wealth will face the harshest practices of the armed forces,” noted the plan.
Among the “official patriots,” the document cited a long list of jurists, bureaucrats and civil servants who would cooperate with the TSK in the event of a military coup. Among the “unofficial patriots” were journalists and members of civil society organizations.
The document also revealed that all key state posts would be occupied by members of the military. “Members of the military will be responsible for the implementation of civil services until the state structure is restored. For this reason, all key state posts will be occupied by military staff. Those staff will be active members of the military. If they are not adequate in number to fill the state posts, then retired members of the military will be called to duty,” stated the coup plan.
The names of former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Özden Örnek -- the author of controversial diaries which revealed that four force commanders devised plans in 2004 to stage two military coups -- retired Brig. Gen. Süha Tanyeri and retired Col. Fikri Karadağ are also frequently mentioned in the plan.
Munitions buried underground part of coup plan
The mystery of the large caches of munitions that have been unearthed during excavations as part of the probe into Ergenekon, a criminal organization accused of working to topple the AK Party, is most probably related to the Sledgehammer coup plan.
The plan read that munitions buried underground would be distributed to members of the military in accordance with the plan to stage the coup. Many types of munitions have been unearthed since the start of the Ergenekon probe in June 2007, when hand grenades were discovered at a house in İstanbul's Ümraniye district.
Ergenekon is accused of intending to create chaos in the country by using the munitions, which would result in the overthrow of the government.
Ergenekon's munitions are not restricted to those unearthed during excavations. Unidentified individuals have been abandoning weapons and munitions in isolated locations throughout the country since the discovery of munitions buried underground in 2007 after raids on Ergenekon suspects' homes revealed maps and other evidence pointing to weapons caches.
The coup plan also suggested that public pressure on the AK Party would be increased through economic problems and a financial crisis.
“Economic operations to be carried out by friends of the TSK will drive the country into a financial bottleneck in the national and international arena. Massive protests and rallies will be organized against the AK Party government. Public opinion will be shaped in such a way that it will expect the armed forces to do the necessary [a coup] after news of acts of reactionaryism, student protests, soldiers killed in clashes, economic crisis and unsolved murders,” stated the document.
Simultaneous acts of violence by al-Qaeda, PKK
According to the subversive plan, bloody and shocking acts by al-Qaeda and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) would trigger massive protests by civil society groups and universities that would accuse the AK Party of failing to provide security for the people of Turkey.
The plan showed that the TSK was to use the terrorist acts not only as a “means” but also as a “guarantee” of achieving its objectives.
The massive protests would lead to the declaration of martial law in the country, which would topple the AK Party government. The plan has raised the question of whether the TSK had a hand in the simultaneous bombings in İstanbul in 2003 that killed more than 50 people and injured as many as 700. The bombings targeted the HSBC Bank headquarters and a nearby synagogue. Al-Qaeda terrorists claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Gov't would be replaced by 'National Agreement Government'
The Sledgehammer coup plan also mentioned the TSK's plans to establish an administration that would replace the AK Party government.
The existing government would be replaced by a “National Agreement Government,” which would include a large number of active and retired members of the military. Taraf announced that it would make the names of those members of the military public in today's edition of the newspaper.
“The vacant positions [in the Cabinet] will be occupied by our fellow soldiers. Our retired colleagues will take over state posts and bureaucratic positions after the overthrow of the AK Party government. … All civil servants who are known to support movements of reactionaryism and separatist activities and who are known to be implicated in corrupt activities will be replaced, with no exceptions, by retired or active military staff who are trustworthy and loyal to contemporary values,” noted the document.
The document also suggested that the police force was to be brought under the control of the military, that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) would be restructured and that the new organization would be headed by an army general on active duty.
The coup plan in addition aimed to replace the recitation of the call to prayer (adhan) in Arabic with the Turkish version: “All gains of the republic, which have been eroded till now, will be restored once again. The adhan will be recited in Turkish and the damage to Turkish culture caused by Arabs and Kurds will be repaired.”
The call to prayer was first recited in Turkish in 1932 upon a circular by the Directorate of Religious Affairs and continued through 1950. The adhan returned to its original version after the Democrat Party's (DP) victory in the 1950 general elections.
