Lawyer condemns plot on non-founded government

ANKARA

A man protests outside the Supreme Court of Appeals where the Balyoz appeals care is being held in Ankara.

A detainee in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot case has been charged for allegedly acting to topple the government, but the government in question was not in power at the time when the actions are said to have been realized, a defense lawyer in the case has said, Anadolu Agency reported.

Günizi Dizdar, attorney for Berker Emre Tok and over a dozen other defendants, was speaking on July 22 at an ongoing appeal trial of the Balyoz coup plot case, which began at the Supreme Court of Appeals on July 15 with lawyers presenting their arguments in the absence of the defendants.

Referring to a seminar organized by the 1st Army Commandership on March 5-7, 2003 and which is, according to the prosecution, part of the coup plan, Dizdar noted that participating in this seminar was not a crime and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had been arranging these seminars biennially.

“To what extent can the claim logically and legally be possible that my client took action against a non-founded government, when there was no 1st Army Commandership around?” Dizdar said.

Some 250 of the defendants in the Balyoz coup plot case, which has been ongoing for around three years, have been held under arrest, including former Air Force chief Halil İbrahim Fırtına, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputy Engin Alan, 1st Army chief Çetin Doğan, and a number of other retired generals.