Turkish PM calls for swift results in probes into alleged anti-gov’t plot

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan met Tuesday army chief Gen. Ilker Basbug to discuss the alleged military plan in an extraordinary meeting in Ankara.  Â

 

The meeting came as tensions in the country rose after Taraf daily last week ran a headline story of an alleged clandestine action plan targeting the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, and all members of a religious sect named after its controversial leader, Fethullah Gulen. Â

 

No statement was made following the just over one-hour-long meeting held at the Prime Ministry, which hosts regular meetings between the two on Thursdays.

 

Erdogan told his parliamentary group meeting hours after the closed to the press talks with Basbug that he believes the military is committed to democracy, but nevertheless called on military and civilian judiciary officials to find out who might have drafted the document as soon as possible.

  

Erdogan reiterated his government’s determination to take legal action to reveal who was behind the report that raised tensions between the ruling AKP and the military and asked that comments on the situation be reserved until the investigations are concluded.

 

"If the allegations are false... and aim to cause provocation and confrontation between state institutions, that would be grave," Erdogan said.

 

"If the allegations are true, that would be even more serious," he added.

 

An initial investigation conducted by the Turkish military concluded Monday that none of its units were involved in the preparation of the alleged action plan to finish off the ruling party. The Turkish Security Forces, or TSK, will employ every effort to find out whether the document was authentic and if so it declared those responsible would be punished, the army said.

Basbug told Hurriyet daily in an interview published on Tuesday that military prosecutors would make a definite statement on whether such a document existed or not.

"We took statements from related people. We asked them and they say they did not do such work. Computers were seized and there was no clue of such work after technical analyses were made. That is, no such document was written on those computers," he added.

AKP officials, however, expressed their dissatisfaction Monday at the military’s statements that it says should have clearly rejected or accepted the existence of the document.

A senior naval officer, Dursun Cicek, accused of crafting the four-page document in April, will give his deposition to a Turkish prosecutor assigned in the country's controversial Ergenekon probe on Wednesday.

The plan, allegedly drafted by the General Staff’s operations division, is said to contain efforts to fight fundamentalism, end the activities of religious movements, particularly the ruling AKP and the Gulen movement that are accused of trying to undermine Turkey’s secular order and establish an Islamic state.

Photo is an archive image.