Turkey’s army chief, Ilker Basbug, on Friday called for an end to speculation about an alleged plot to bring down the government, denouncing what he called a smear campaign against the military.
“At a time when there are important things taking place in the world, notably in Iran … Turkey has used a lot of energy pointlessly over a piece of paper,” he told reporters angrily.
The document he mentioned, purportedly from a colonel in the general staff, was recently published in the liberal newspaper Taraf and supposedly dealt with a plot to destabilise the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
Basbug, flanked by the army’s most senior officers, repeated to reporters that so far as military investigators were concerned, the document was a fake.
The army would “not stand by and watch” in the face of a “growing and organised” smear campaign, he added.
“We are an institution attached to the Constitution and we will not permit anyone in our ranks to get involved in unlawful activities,” he said.
The document published by Taraf, which has been a regular critic of the army, has sparked a fierce controversy in Turkey, a country where the army has toppled elected governments four times since 1960.
Taraf alleged that the document was a reaction to an ongoing probe into an alleged plot by the secularist-ultranationalist group Ergenekon to topple the Islamist-rooted government.
Ergenekon has been blamed for a variety of violent acts. The suspects allegedly sought to foment unrest and political chaos to pave the way for a military coup targeting the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
The Ergenekon investigation, which began in June 2007, has fuelled tensions between the AKP and its hardcore secularist opponents, who suspect the ruling party of undermining the country’s secular order.
Earlier this week, officials from the AKP party filed a formal complaint over the alleged plot revealed in the document published by Taraf.
On Wednesday, Erdogan backed the move, seemingly unmoved by the army command’s vehement denials.
Several serving officers and others now in retirement have been charged in connection with the Ergenekon inquiry.
The fresh row comes against the background of moves by the Islamist AKP to change the Constitution to allow for the possibility of putting leaders of the 1980 military coup on trial.
The AKP and the secular main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) met on Wednesday for preliminary talks on possible constitutional changes.
An article in Turkey’s Constitution, which was drafted in 1982 under the eye of the army, effectively prevented the leaders of the coup from being taken to court for their actions.
The Turkish general behind a 1980 coup threatened to commit suicide if the authorities decided to put him on trial, in comments published on Friday.
“Let them ask the people, let them organise a referendum,” General Kenan Evren told Hurriyet newspaper.
“If the Turkish people come out in favour of a trial, I will not be able to live with the shame, I promise to everyone that I will commit suicide,” said the 92-year-old general. — AFP