SLEDGEHAMMER COUP PLAN INVESTIGATION

Military Academies Commander General Bilgin Balanlı was arrested in the scope of the investigation related to the "Sledgehammer Coup Plan".

The Sledgehammer coup plan was plotted by a group of people within the armed forces in 2002/03. It was aimed at creating disorder in the country by bombings of mosques, crashing a Turkish jet plane and warplanes flying over the parliament, which should eventually lead to martial law and a coup.

Gen. Balanlı gave his statement in the context of the investigation lodged into documents seized in Eskişehir (central Anatolia) that allegedly contained parts of the Sledgehammer coup plan.

Balanlı's statement was taken by Special Authority Public Prosecutor Hüseyin Ayar who is in charge of the investigation. The interrogation took about three hours. Subsequently, Gen. Balanlı was taken to the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court on Duty with the request to arrest him.

Up to now, Balanlı is the first active officer in the Turkish Armed Forces at the level of a general whose arrest was requested in the scope of the Sledgehammer and also the Ergenekon Investigations.

Gen. Balanlı was expected to become the Commander of the Turkish Air Forces this August.

Eight active officers interrogated

On 28 May, eight active officers were interrogated in the context of the Sledgehammer plan, namely Lieutenant General Turgut Ataman, Major Gen. Nedim Güngör Kurutaş, Major Gen. Bülent Kocababuç, Major Gen. Beyazıt Karataş, Birgadier Gen. Mehmet Eldem, Brigadier Gen. Erhan Pamuk, Sen. Rear Admiral Sinan Ertuğrul and General Staff Colonel Mehmet Örgen. They gave their statements at the Istanbul Courthouse in Beşiktaş last week.

The interrogation lasted for about twelve hours. The army officers were questioned about the documents that were found in Eskişehir. Hüseyin Ayar as the prosecutor of the investigation released the officers after the interrogation. (HK/VK)