The Chief of Staff Military Prosecutor's Office has dismissed proceedings against retired general Altay Tokat who confessed in an interview that he was responsible for covert street bombing activities in Southeast Turkey intending to intimidate civil servants.

The decision came simultaneous to a Chief of Staff Military Tribunal decision of no proceedings against Tokat on grounds of making unauthorized statements and attempting to shake confidence in army commanders.

The prosecution concluded in its investigation on whether Tokat had issued orders for the bombing activities he mentioned, that there were not sufficient legal reasons to open a public case against him.

The military court decided, meanwhile, that as Tokat was a civilian and the country was at present not in a state of war, any case related to his alleged offences had to be heard by a civilian court and sent the case folder to the Istanbul Sultanahmet Court of First Instance.

6 Years imprisonment

Retired Gen. Tokat faced charges of "attempting to shake confidence in commanders" and "issuing statements on military matters without authority" which could have led to 6 years imprisonment.

A separate investigation was launched against him to establish whether he had indeed issued orders for clandestine bombing activities.

In the controversial interview published in Aktuel magazine, Tokat was speaking in relation to an earlier bookstore bombing in Semdinli by members of the security forces, which the general described as a "possibly clumsy" operation.

"In my time," the retired general said, "I also had them throw a few bombs to some critical points. These were empty places! My issue was to give a message".

Tokat said the message given through street bombings targeted civil servants and judges who were assigned to the region and the explosions occurred close to were they lived.

"Civil servants, judges that come from the West [of Turkey] don't understand the seriousness of the situation... when things became calmer, they started to take this business nor seriously... In consequence I had [bombs] thrown at two places close to their houses. After that they understood that they needed to be careful. One [act of] disaster is better than a thousand words of advice. This way I educated them," he said.

"You can't immediately evaluate this by saying throwing bombs is illegal. I might have saved the lives of those people. I did not tell them either. Now if you construe this as assassination, I'll laugh at that" he was quoted as further saying.

Cleared

In this ways decision of no proceedings against Tokat, the Prosecution concluded that statements made by the defendant had created the image that Turkey's armed forces were involved in extra-judicial activities due to the last rank he held and the duties he had fulfilled in military service.

The decision agreed that it would be an offense to conduct clandestine bombings for intimidation reasons and referred to the possibility of individuals committing offenses, sometimes arbitrarily, while on duty.

It said, however, that the nation itself was aware the Turkish Armed Forces was a force that had the strength and organization that would prevent it from being affected by the defendant's remarks. (KO/II/YE/EU)