Military Probes Claims on Secret Plan
The General Staff announced Friday that it has launched an investigation into claims published in daily Taraf about military plans to finish off the ruling party and Fethullah Gülen, leader of the religious "Gülen movement."
"Today [Friday], news and comments were published in a newspaper about a plan allegedly drafted by the General Staff's operations division. An order has been given at once to the General Staff's Military Prosecutor's Office to thoroughly investigate the issue," Brig. Gen. Metin Gürak told reporters at a weekly press briefing. When asked what would be probed, the document's accuracy or who leaked it to the press, Gürak said the issue would be comprehensively investigated.
Clandestine action plan
According to the headline article published in daily Taraf, the clandestine action plan aimed at fighting fundamentalism targets the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, government and all members of the Gülen movement, primarily those serving in the army. The plan is said to contain efforts to end the activities of religious movements, particularly the AKP government and the Gülen group, that are accused of trying to undermine the secular order and establish an Islamic state.
According to the report, the four-page plan said members of the Turkish Armed Forces had been stained by baseless allegations as part of the Ergenekon investigation.
The plan allegedly called for the Gülen community to be declared an armed terror organization by having the police "find" artillery in the community's houses. Other actions proposed in the plan are said to have been meant to leave the impression that the Gülen community is in cooperation with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK; in contact with institutions like the CIA and MOSSAD; and behind the Ergenekon case. The plan also reportedly includes efforts to discredit the National Education Ministry.
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