Hunt still on for anti-AKP plotters
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 26, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Alleged military plans to topple the ruling party are continuing to raise havoc. Prime Minister Erdoğan has accepted the military’s conclusions from its internal investigation, in which it declared itself innocent, but he has also asked the military to widen its investigation. ’We have to know if there are real plots,’ he says
The military prosecutor’s denial that a much-debated document alleging a plot against the ruling party was a product of the military did not fully satisfy the government, which asked the commanders Thursday to continue their investigations.
"I have the strong conviction that our Armed Forces will also do what has to be done. Because we have to learn if there are real plots within the Armed Forces," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters Thursday before his departure to Albania. "We have to do this together with the government and opposition."
A military prosecutor’s probe concluded Wednesday with the ruling that there was no cause to prosecute Navy Col. Dursun Çiçek, as there was no evidence that he had prepared the alleged plan to dismantle the ruling party. The document, which was first published two weeks ago by daily Taraf, details ways to break popular support for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP and the conservative Gülen movement.
Accompanied by a request to investigate the perpetrators of the document and their aims, the military prosecutor sent the dossier to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, where the AKP has filed a complaint over the plan. "The military prosecution has reached a decision; the following process, as far as I understood and as I have put forward with my friends at the previous meetings, will be carried out by the civil jurisdiction," Erdoğan said. "We will investigate all efforts to undermine democracy regardless of the source."
When asked what he meant when he called on the military to do whatever was necessary, Erdoğan did not elaborate, but said he would raise the issue during one of his regular meetings with Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ. Başbuğ will take part in the debate Friday, when he will hold a press conference to express the military’s point of view with regard to the recent developments. Another statement from the AKP said that "the civil tribunals will handle the case and that the party attaches great importance to the clearance of this issue with all its dimensions, the perpetrators being tried before the court and a conclusion that will clear the conscience of the public."
Describing the alleged plan as a conspiracy targeting the credibility of the military, the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, argued that the government should apologize to the public for taking this document seriously. "Erdoğan was arguing that the document was open evidence that proved coup preparations in the military, challenging the national will, the rule of law through a plot targeting his party and government," CHP leader Deniz Baykal said at a press conference he held Thursday. "Now he expects our help to prove his argument. Mr. Prime Minister has been late. He had to ask before laying the blame. It’s an important issue for Turkey, for the government and the politics, the No. 1 issue of the state," Baykal said.
"I have the strong conviction that our Armed Forces will also do what has to be done. Because we have to learn if there are real plots within the Armed Forces," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told reporters Thursday before his departure to Albania. "We have to do this together with the government and opposition."
A military prosecutor’s probe concluded Wednesday with the ruling that there was no cause to prosecute Navy Col. Dursun Çiçek, as there was no evidence that he had prepared the alleged plan to dismantle the ruling party. The document, which was first published two weeks ago by daily Taraf, details ways to break popular support for the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP and the conservative Gülen movement.
Accompanied by a request to investigate the perpetrators of the document and their aims, the military prosecutor sent the dossier to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office in Istanbul, where the AKP has filed a complaint over the plan. "The military prosecution has reached a decision; the following process, as far as I understood and as I have put forward with my friends at the previous meetings, will be carried out by the civil jurisdiction," Erdoğan said. "We will investigate all efforts to undermine democracy regardless of the source."
When asked what he meant when he called on the military to do whatever was necessary, Erdoğan did not elaborate, but said he would raise the issue during one of his regular meetings with Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ. Başbuğ will take part in the debate Friday, when he will hold a press conference to express the military’s point of view with regard to the recent developments. Another statement from the AKP said that "the civil tribunals will handle the case and that the party attaches great importance to the clearance of this issue with all its dimensions, the perpetrators being tried before the court and a conclusion that will clear the conscience of the public."
Describing the alleged plan as a conspiracy targeting the credibility of the military, the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, argued that the government should apologize to the public for taking this document seriously. "Erdoğan was arguing that the document was open evidence that proved coup preparations in the military, challenging the national will, the rule of law through a plot targeting his party and government," CHP leader Deniz Baykal said at a press conference he held Thursday. "Now he expects our help to prove his argument. Mr. Prime Minister has been late. He had to ask before laying the blame. It’s an important issue for Turkey, for the government and the politics, the No. 1 issue of the state," Baykal said.