Gen. staff denies claims on documents

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

The Office of the Chief of General Staff declared that they have not sent any document to Parliament about the work of the West Study Group (BÇG).

The office said in a written statement yesterday the Parliament Coup Inquiry Commission had not requested a document about the work of the BÇG, so the office had not answered any such request and the documents were shredded.Media reports have claimed that the commission had requested some documents from the Office of Chief of General Staff concerning the work of the BÇG. According to the reports, the office’s answer was negative as all the documents were already shredded, but that the commission had obtained some parts of documents from another source. The West Study Group is a committee of military officials that is said to have monitored the government and kept illegal records of private information about hundreds of thousands of people in the “Feb. 28 process.” The process refers to a harsh army-led campaign that forced Turkey’s first Islamist prime minister, Necmettin Erbakan, to resign in June 1997.