TURKEY:Επιχείρηση "Βαριοπούλα"-Η Δίκη. First day at court ...

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According to the Sledgehammer allegations, the military planned drastic measures to foment unrest in the country in order to remove the AKP from power. Those measures included bombing two major mosques in Istanbul, staging an assault on a military museum by people disguised as religious extremists and raising tension with Greece by attacking a Turkish plane and blaming it on the Aegean neighbor.

Turkey's 'Sledgehammer' plot has its day in court 
The alleged coup plot codenamed “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) had its first day at court Thursday, a year after documents pertaining to the purported plan were first published by a Turkish daily.
The first hearing in the case concluded with the defendants making a plea to have the new judge in the case refused. The previous judge dealing with the case was reassigned Tuesday. The next hearing will be held Dec. 28.
Out of the 196 suspects, 186 appeared at the courtroom at Istanbul’s Silivri Prison for the first hearing, including the alleged Sledgehammer mastermind, retired Gen. Çetin Doğan, the former commander of the first army of Turkish land forces.
Suspects Özden Örnek and İbrahim Fırtına, former top commanders of the Navy and Air Force, were also present in the courtroom.
All 196 suspects, who are free pending trial, face between 15 and 20 years in prison if convicted on charges of “attempting to topple the government by force,” according to the indictment.
The first documents on Sledgehammer, featuring a number of sub-plans, were leaked to daily Taraf, a paper known for its anti-military stance. Nine sacks of more documents were confiscated last week from a concealed room at a navy base.
A roll call of suspects also revealed a mistake in the suspect list after gendarmerie Non-Commissioned Officer Recep Yavuz objected to the identification read after his name, saying it was not his title. Another suspect, Recep Yıldız, said the identification data belonged to him. Judge Ömer Diken said the mistake would be corrected and added that there was no case against Yavuz.
Opposing groups staged demonstrations in front of the courthouse, but dispersed without incident. The Free Thinking and Educational Rights Association, or ÖZGÜR-DER, and a group of lawyers protested the suspects, saying they were against any military coups. Another group, identified as the İnegöl District Organization of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, protested the case against military members.
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin made a statement Wednesday about Judge Ömer Diken only being assigned to the case 48 hours prior to the first hearing, saying the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors, or HSYK, chose to reassign former judge Zafer Başkurt based on a unanimous vote.
The minister also said the investigation had been ongoing for roughly a year and added that the inspection board had demanded the change only recently.
Başkurt’s replacement with Diken prompted an argument among political and media circles with some calling it a tactic to gain time or a direct governmental manipulation of the judiciary while others said the claims against the reassigned judge showed he would not have been able to be impartial. Başkurt was the sole figure who took part in the trial of Ergenekon suspect Mehmet Haberal and did not get sued by him, as he was the only judge who voted in favor of his release.
Ergenekon is an alleged ultranationalist gang on trial for attempts to topple the government. Sledgehammer is an alleged military coup plot against the leading Justice and Development Party, or AKP, drafted in 2003. According to the Sledgehammer allegations, the military planned drastic measures to foment unrest in the country in order to remove the AKP from power. Those measures included bombing two major mosques in Istanbul, staging an assault on a military museum by people disguised as religious extremists and raising tension with Greece by attacking a Turkish plane and blaming it on the Aegean neighbor.
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