Two prosecutors conducting a case into the Sledgehammer coup plot were removed from the case under orders from Chief Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin, according to news report early in the evening on Monday.
The decision came at a time when a major raid into suspected Sledgehammer plotters at 90 different locations in 14 provinces was under way. The operation was then suspended, reports said. The newly assigned prosecutors were identified as Murat Yöner and Mehmet Ergül.
The National Police Department yesterday detained around 20 people in raids conducted at various locations as part of an ongoing investigation into the Sledgehammer coup plot, which allegedly sought to undermine the government to prepare the ground for a military takeover.
The suspects include military officers on active duty who were detained in İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir and Çanakkale, police said.
Retired Gen. Tuncay Çakan, who served at the İstanbul Gülhane Military Academy of Medicine (GATA) was detained in İstanbul. Çakan was the commander of GATA in 2007 when Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's spouse, Emine Erdoğan, was denied entry to a GATA hospital due to her headscarf when visiting an ailing thespian.
A retired senior colonel identified only by his initials as S.Ö. was detained in İzmir. He was flown to İstanbul yesterday. In Çanakkale, retired Gen. Mustafa Kemal Tutkun's house, located in that province's Güzelyalı district, was searched. Tutkun himself was also detained in the probe.
Retired Gen. Şükrü Sarıışık, a former secretary-general of the National Security Council (MGK), was also among the detained, reports said.
Searches were carried out in the Ankara homes of retired Col. Ali Tarık Akca and retired Col. Erdal Akyazan. These individuals are being sought by the police as suspects in the investigation.
In related developments, Gen. Çetin Doğan, the alleged author of the Sledgehammer coup plot, who was hospitalized at GATA following his contentious release last week, will be staying there for a while, according to his doctors. Doğan's lawyer Celal Ülgen said yesterday that Doğan's condition was serious, and the doctors will not be releasing him from the hospital. He said Doğan was to go to surgery but did not specify the reason. Retired Gen. Engin Alan, a suspect with a warrant issued for his arrest over his involvement in the Sledgehammer plot, was also hospitalized at GATA yesterday.
According to the Sledgehammer plot, made public by a newspaper in January, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a systematic plan to create chaos in society by bombing mosques and attacking popular museums with Molotov cocktails. The attacks' desired result was to increase pressure on the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government for failing to provide security to its citizens. The attacks were to eventually lead to a military coup. The plan was drawn up in 2003 and discussed at a seminar held at the General Staff's Selimiye barracks in March of that year.
The Sledgehammer plan was included in the third indictment prepared in the investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow the government. The prosecutors are now questioning the 24 generals who attended the seminar.
Dozens of retired and active duty military officers have been detained in the probe. Twenty-two of them were released last week in a controversial ruling, but the release ruling was rescinded on Sunday by a panel of judges from the İstanbul 12th High Criminal Court.
