Retired Gen Saygun hospitalized again

ANKARA - Hürriyet

Syagun was discharged from hospital on March 4. AA photo

Retired Gen. Ergin Saygun, a former senior military officer who was released from prison after undergoing a serious heart operation, has been hospitalized again due to fever, his daughter announced via Twitter.

His daughter Ece Saygun wrote: “My father has been in hospital again since yesterday. He got a fever the day before. ... The fever is serious in his condition; a fourth surgery is not possible for him.”

Gen. Ergin Saygun was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot trial, but released by an Istanbul court due to his health problems. He was discharged from hospital on March 4 after open heart surgery.

On Feb. 9 Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited Saygun at the hospital in Istanbul soon after he had undergone the surgery. Erdoğan’s visit sparked a reaction from leaders of both the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu argued that the visit indicated that the prime minister’s conscience was suffering from the injustice committed against hundreds of people currently behind bars on unclear charges as part of the ongoing Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) coup plot cases.
However Erdoğan described his visit as “a human duty.”