Generals transferred to civilian prison

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

Following their forced retirement by the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) some 40 Turkish generals and an admiral currently in prison as part of the ongoing Ergenekon, Internet Memorandum and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) trials will be transferred from Hasdal and Hadımköy military prisons to Silivri prison Sept. 1 and considered civilians from there on out.

With the approval of President Abdullah Gül the Supreme Military Council’s decisions were published on the Turkish Armed Forces’ website Aug. 31. In total 56 generals and admirals were retired by the council.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Tevfik Özkılıç, Major General Berkay Turgut and Brigadier Generals Lokman Ekinci and Mehmet Ali Yıldırım, who have been held in prison under the ongoing post-modern Feb. 28 coup case, were transferred to Ankara Sincan F-Type prison from Mamak Military Prison on Aug. 31.

Balyoz case continues

In a separate development, Ret. Admiral Özden Örnek, a jailed suspect in the Sledgehammer (Balyoz) case claimed Aug. 31 that “the entire Sledgehammer case was just a conspiracy” in his defense to accusations made against him in Istanbul’s 10th Court for Serious Crimes at Silivri Prison.

“Balyoz is a fictional [case] which was written or permitted to be written by a political party to gain political profit. [This party] itself uncovers a coup d’état if it finds an opportunity, it creates a coup even if there is no coup-plot,” Örnek said.

Örnek also claimed that the evidences presented by the prosecutors were fabricated. He said between November 2002 and August 2003 there was no movement to attempt a coup within the Turkish Armed Forces.

Örnek also lashed out at the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), which had prepared an expert report on the evidences of the case. He said TÜBİTAK was politically motivated and not objective. Örnek cited the institution’s Darwin censure act in 2009 which drew an intense reaction from the society. The country’s top science body TÜBİTAK’s monthly publication “Bilim Teknik” had pulled out of the Charles Darwin cover-story in March 2009.