General Staff Statement Far from Reassuring
Two separate statements released on Monday by the Turkish General Staff's Military Prosecutor's Office and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) regarding an action plan allegedly prepared by a colonel to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) and the Gülen movement failed to satisfy many who had been expecting the General Staff to shed light on the scandalous plan.
The prosecutor's office did not deny the existence of the plan, saying instead: "Having assessed all of the initial evidence acquired so far, we have reached the conclusion that the alleged action plan was not prepared by any department of the General Staff. The alleged document was requested from the Taraf daily [which published it], and the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office must conduct a criminal examination of it. The document, however, has not reached our office yet. It will be determined whether the document is genuine or a fake." Analysts say the statements raise suspicions regarding the plot, deepening concerns over their authenticity of the controversial documents.
Radikal's Oral Çalişlar says the General Staff's statement was not only far from satisfactory but also increased suspicion. "The Military Prosecutor's Office announced that it had not yet seen the document and requested it from the Taraf daily. In the following sentence, though, it said such a document does not exist in the General Staff. One cannot help but ask: How can the Military Prosecutor's Office conclude the non-existence of a document that it has not seen in the General Staff. Furthermore, it says an investigation into the issue has just been launched. How can such a conclusion be reached at the beginning of the investigation? Why is the Military Prosecutor's Office actively involved in an issue that should be investigated by civilian prosecutors?" asks Çalişlar. To put an end to the military's involvement in such conspiracies, he suggests that the TSK return to its real business, dealing with security issues, and stay out of politics. "This is [an] indispensable [criterion] for the strengthening of democracy in Turkey. The military will keep its hands off politics," he says.
Evaluating the General Staff's statement, Yeni Şafak's Fehmi Koru says the General Staff is unconcerned with satisfying anybody with its statement, because it intends to gain some time ― as it has in similar cases in the past ― with such vague statements. "The Military Prosecutor's Office seems to have tried to say something, but there is no clear message in its statement, as it has left many things ambiguous," he says. As for the General Staff's statement, Koru says it can be interpreted as a "trust us" message; however, the General Staff could have given brief answers to all the suspicions in people's minds, and had it done so there would be no need to deliver a "trust us" message.
Sabah's Emre Aköz names several reasons for which he finds the General Staff statement unsatisfactory. Recalling the emergence of similar controversial documents belonging to the General Staff in the past, Aköz says all these plans were prepared and implemented and when they were leaked to the press, the General Staff immediately distanced itself from these plans, saying the institution had no links with them. Referring to Taraf's report on the documents, in which a retired general said preparations for the action plan in question began in January 2009, Aköz says many people within the General Staff seem to have knowledge of this plan.
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