The investigation into the "Sledgehammer Operation" (Balyoz) was apparently put on halt because of expected promotions of eleven generals and admirals by the High Military Council (YAŞ). The high-ranking military officials are among the group of 102 army officers, 25 of them on active duty, who are subject of recently issued arrest warrants.
"A summit and how it proceeded: Sledgehammer will not be caught" was the title of the referring article in Taraf newspaper. It was reported that after a meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ, it had been announced that "the Sledgehammer operation was suddenly halted".
The news said that the decision for arrest warrants had not been applied for six days. In this context it was emphasized that only former First Army Commander Çetin Doğan had been taken into custody in the meantime. While Taraf newspaper linked the lack of enforcement of the arrest warrants to the "summit", Hürriyet newspaper propounded a connection to the YAŞ meeting to be held on 1 August.
"Recipe" for generals and admirals
According to the news of Hürriyet, 'recipes' are being made up for the according eleven generals and admirals. These eleven high-ranking military officers are part of a group of 134 generals and admirals subject to decisions concerning promotions, extensions and retirements to be discussed in this year's meeting of YAŞ. Appointments and promotions will not be possible in case of arrests or if an appeal to the court will be definitely rejected until the Council. There will also be a loss of personal rights. The news has it that the notifications are being delayed in order to prevent those army officers to become "victims".
Miniser of Defence: Issue will be dealt with before YAŞ
Defence Minister Vecdi Gönül commented the issue on Thursday (29 July) in Izmir. He indicated that the issue will have come to a conclusion before the Council.
"It is impossible to make an evaluation related to the judiciary. We are concerned with the question whether the work and the decisions of the Council will be affected or not. Our lawyers are working on that and the issue will be concluded before the Council", Gönül said.
Journalists had put forward that the General Staff prepared a plan aiming the delay of the arrests. "These comments are not made by us", Gönül responded to the allegations. "If necessary, a person is deposed from office when the conditions for the deposition are fulfilled. Right now, we have not got any request for deposing anybody from office, the request is related to the arrest".
Atalay: Business of the Central Command
A photograph was taken of Minister of the Interior Beşir Atalay side by side with Lieutenant General Nejat Bek, 6th Army Corps Commander, one of the army officers an arrest warrant has been issued about. It was emphasized that the picture was not supposed to convey "a certain message". Both persons had attended the funeral service of a police officer in Adana who was killed in a raid on a police car in Dörtyol/Hatay this week. Atalay pointed out that it was not the duty of the Ministry of the Interior to arrest soldiers on duty. "It is the duty of the Central Command to fulfil judiciary decisions related to military officers. As far as civilians are concerned, the Istanbul Police is doing whatever is necessary, as usual", he said. (SP/VK)
