A Coup in Turkey Before Any Attack on Iran?

By Global Research
Global Research, August 05, 2010
AANGIRFAN 4 July 2010
Region:
Theme:
In-depth Report:

Before any attack on Iran, there may be a military coup in Turkey?

Turkey’s government is friendly with Iran and has fallen out with Israel.

On 1 August 2010, Turkey’s Supreme Military Council held the second day of its annual meeting to discuss promotions and dismissals of officers in the armed forces.

And, this Turkish Military Council seeks the promotion of coup suspects

The military wants to promote 11 generals who have been charged with plotting to bring down the government.

Reportedly, Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a cancellation of the promotions for the 11 generals.

But he lacks the power to cancel appointments wanted by the generals.

Abdullah Gul, the president, does have that power because Military Council decisions become law only after being signed by the president.

In the past, no president has dared veto the military’s plans.

Reportedly, Gul has asked the military not to go ahead with the promotions, hinting that he would not sign the Yas documents if the 11 generals were promoted.

A Turkish court recently issued arrest warrants for the 11 generals and 91 other serving and retired officers, with dozens of generals among them.

They are to stand trial in December 2010 for their suspected participation in a plan, code-named Sledgehammer.

Allegedly, Sledgehammer was hatched in 2003 and called for a coup against the government of Mr Erdogan.

According to the prosecution, the plotters planned to bomb a mosque in Istanbul and to provoke tensions with Greece in an effort to cause unrest and prepare the ground for a military coup.

Only one of the 102 suspects has been arrested so far. The others have appealed against their arrest warrants.

Some officers, including retired high-ranking generals, are standing trial as suspected members of Ergenekon, a fascist group with links to the CIA and Mossad.

Constitutional amendments designed to curb the generals’ political influence will be put to a referendum in September 2010.

The government is struggling to deal with a fresh wave of attacks by Kurdish rebels, who are said to be backed by Ergenekon, the CIA and Mossad.
Articles by: Global Research

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]