One more ex-general convicted for Feb 28

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

Hürriyet photo

Retired general Şükrü Sarıışık, a former secretary-general of the National Security Council (MGK) was convicted on Feb. 21 after testifying in the ongoing Feb. 28 “postmodern coup” trial. 

Sarıışık and Lt. Gen. Doğan Temel were sent to an Ankara court for arrest earlier in the day. Temel was released under probationary conditions. 

The two former generals are also both suspects in the “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) coup-plot case. In September, Sarıışık was sentenced to 18 years for involvement in the Sledgehammer case. Some 73 retired generals are now under arrest following the latest wave of arrests in the investigation into the “postmodern coup” of Feb. 28, 1997.

Following a petition from Ankara’s chief prosecutor, the court ordered the arrest of 11 retired generals last week, while seven other retired generals were released under probationary conditions. 

The latest important figure to be brought to court was former Air Force Cmdr. Ergin Celasin on Feb. 15. However, the court decided not to bring charges against Celasin, who was the most senior former soldier to be summoned since former Chief of General Staff Gen. İsmail Hakkı Karadayı and former Deputy Chief of General Staff Gen. Çevik Bir, following four hours of testimony at the Ankara Court House. Celasin was the general secretary of the National Security Council (MGK) at the time of the Feb. 28 coup.

The “postmodern coup,” or the “Feb. 28 process,” refers to a military intervention that forced late ex-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan to resign in 1997. Suspects who have been detained so far in relation to the Feb. 28 investigation have been sent to court on charges of “attempting to annul the government of the Republic of Turkey,” or “attempting to partially or entirely block the government from performing its duties.”