Balyoz

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Balyoz ( Turkish for "sledgehammer") was the name of a plan or simulation game of the Turkish armed forces , of which it was claimed in an article in the daily Taraf on January 20, 2010 by Mehmet Baransu, Yıldıray Oğur and Yasemin Çongar that they had the goal overthrow the 58th government of the Republic of Turkey from November 18, 2002 to March 14, 2003 . The plan is said to have been worked out in the staff of the 1st Army .

As a result, dozens of generals and officers were arrested and subsequently sentenced to long prison terms, until the Turkish Constitutional Court found on June 19, 2014 that the rights of the accused had been violated in these trials and ordered the accused's immediate release. On March 31, 2015, all 236 suspects were acquitted. Previously used evidence was found to be falsified.

Reproach

The intention is described to strengthen the population's acceptance of a coup by means of assassinations within Turkey and provocations against Greece . For example, bombs should be detonated in crowded mosques. According to the indictment, ex-general Çetin Dogan was at the head of the conspirators. Dogan, the former commander of the First Army, accused the police of manipulating evidence. The Turkish General Staff declared the Balyoz Plan to be a simulation game .

Investigations and Proceedings

Ten days after the disclosure, the Taraf newspaper handed its material over to the Istanbul prosecutor's office. The investigation led to 49 arrests on February 22, 2010, including retired generals and active officers. As of February 26, 2010, 31 members of the army were held in custody ; 35 officers were charged. On July 19, 2010, the Tenth Grand Chamber for Serious Crimes in İstanbul accepted the 968-page indictment against 196 defendants. According to Article 147 of the old criminal law (valid until June 1, 2005), they were accused of attempting to forcibly prevent the executive branch of the Turkish Republic from fulfilling their duties.

The first session before the Tenth Chamber took place on October 16, 2010 in the meeting room of the prison in Silivri . 187 defendants were present. Nine defendants, including retired General Ergin Saygun, failed to appear. None of the accused was in custody.

At the hearing on February 11, 2011, the court issued arrest warrants for 163 defendants. on the grounds that there is a risk of blackout . The 133 defendants present were immediately taken into custody. The court set additional trial days for March, beginning March 14. Meanwhile, the meeting room in Silivri prison, where the first and second Ergenekon proceedings and the “Action Plan Fight against Fundamentalism” take place, has been expanded.

Further interrogations followed in May and June 2011; a further 15 arrest warrants - against 15 members of the Turkish armed forces - were issued. The investigation is related to documents found in Major Hakan Büyük's home in February 2011. In connection with this, the commandant of the War Academy, 4-star General Bilgin Balanlı (63) was taken into custody. He is said to have ordered the flight surveillance of the Menzil sect from Adıyaman on the Bilvanis farm (now a village) in Eskişehir province .

On February 20, 2011, another indictment was sent to the Tenth Grand Chamber. 28 people (15 of them in pre-trial detention in connection with the documents found with Major Hakan Büyük) were charged with attempting to eliminate the government of the Turkish Republic. The public prosecutor's office demanded prison terms of between 15 and 20 years. If the indictment is accepted, the trial could be combined with the trial of 196 defendants.

On August 15, 2011, the first hearing in the second Balyoz trial was held in the Tenth Grand Chamber. There were 26 defendants present, 21 of them in custody. Defendant Number One, 4-Star General Bilgin Balanlı, read a defense speech in which he denied the allegations. The court transferred a petition to the Eleventh Serious Crime Chamber in Istanbul and adjourned until October 3, 2011.

In mid-November 2011, a third 264-page indictment against 143 suspects (66 of them in custody) was sent to the Tenth Chamber. It called for a merger with procedures 1 and 2. After these proceedings were merged, the number of defendants rose to 244, 184 of whom were in custody. If the third trial is added, there will be 367 accused.

Voices on the procedure

Regarding the arrest warrants in the Balyoz trial, CHP chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said, “Once the evidence has been gathered, there is no warrant. This process has been politicized. The prime minister has said on several occasions that he is the prosecutor of the trial. ”AKP deputy group leader Suat Kılıç said that, as a citizen of the republic, he was ashamed that plans for an overthrow from the 2000s were exposed. Guilty parties would of course be punished. When asked about the Balyoz trial, TÜSİAD chairwoman Ümit Boyner said that Turkey must be freed from subversive and militaristic threats. A situation has to be reached in which the independence and impartiality of the courts are not called into question.

After the court rejected the requests for release for the second time on April 5, 2011, the General Staff issued a press release. It was pointed out that the Turkish Armed Forces had repeatedly informed the authorities about the content of the seminars that were held and that the report commissioned by the public prosecutor's office also clearly stated its position. It is therefore difficult to understand why the court ordered the continuation of pre-trial detention. The President of Parliament Mehmet Ali Şahin regretted the statement by the General Staff as it cast a shadow over the judiciary. The deputy chairman of the AKP Hüseyin Çelik called the declaration an interference in an ongoing procedure. The US ambassador to Ankara, Francis J. Ricciardone, said that a transparent process is expected and that he tries to understand how freedom of the press can be discussed when journalists are arrested. AKP deputy chairman Hüseyin Çelik called this interference in internal affairs.

The judgment

On September 21, 2012, the Tenth Grand Chamber for Serious Crimes in Istanbul delivered its verdict at the 108th session of the trial known as Balyoz (Sledgehammer). Of the 365 defendants, 250 of them in custody , 81 defendants under Article 147 of the old Turkish Criminal Law (TSG) with the number 765 were subjected to aggravated life imprisonment for attempting to use force to prevent the government of the Turkish Republic from exercising their office sentenced. The sentences against the main defendants Çetin Doğan, Özden Örnek and İbrahim Fırtına were reduced to 20 years imprisonment according to Article 61/1 of the old TSG. For 78 defendants, the court reduced the sentences to 18 years' imprisonment under the same provisions.

The court sentenced 214 defendants to prison terms of 16 years. Twenty-two of these defendants were certified as good conductors and their sentences were reduced to 13 years, 4 months in prison. Major Hakan Büyük was sentenced to 6 years in prison. A total of 36 defendants were acquitted. The arrest warrants for 250 defendants who are in custody have been upheld. The court also issued arrest warrants against 6 defendants who were in court and ordered the arrest of 69 defendants. The trials against three defendants were separated. The trial against one of the accused has been dropped. Politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) were cautious, while the opposition sharply criticized the verdict.

Two convicts, Cem Aziz Çakmak and Ali Rıza Sözen , unsuccessfully appealed against Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights . After the constitutional referendum in Turkey in 2010 introduced the right to individual complaints before the Constitutional Court and law 6216 on the Constitutional Court was adapted to the new situation with an amendment of May 30, 2011, the Constitutional Court decided in June 2014 that the procedure was not fair had been. The 4th Chamber for Serious Crimes in Anadolu then ordered the release of the 230 accused. On June 24, 2014, the same chamber dealt with the proceedings of 88 defendants from another trial. The 9th Chamber of the Court of Cassation had overturned the original judgment. The court joined the Court of Cassation in relation to the acquittal of 25 defendants. In June 2015, the acquittals in proceedings involving 63 defendants became final.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c TURKEY Suspected coup leads to arrests. Die Welt , accessed on February 28, 2010 .
  2. ^ A b Putsch Plans in Turkey: Half a Revolution. The time , accessed February 28, 2010 .
  3. ^ A b Putsch plans, arrests, crisis summit. Deutschlandradio , accessed on February 28, 2010 .
  4. ↑ http://siyaset.milliyet.com.tr/balyozda-ilk-tahliye/siyaset/detay/1899685/default.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.deutsch-tuerkische-nachrichten.de/2015/04/510383/fall-balyoz-gericht-haben- Judgment- gegen-mehr-als-200-putsch-verdaechtige-auf /
  6. ^ Doğan News Agency: 236 acquitted in Balyoz coup case . Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved October 18, 2015.
  7. ^ A b c Turkish coup leader Dogan surrenders , in blick.ch of February 14, 2001; Accessed July 12, 2019
  8. ↑ Emekli generallere savcı balyozu. Radikal , February 23, 2010, accessed February 23, 2010 .
  9. ^ Daniel Pipes : Crisis in Turkey. http://de.danielpipes.org/ , accessed on April 11, 2010 (Other publications: Die Welt ; Die Jüdische (dead) ).
  10. ↑ Balyoz iddianamesi kabul edildi. Bugün , July 19, 2010, archived from the original on July 26, 2010 ; Retrieved July 26, 2010 .
  11. ↑ a b c Balyoz davası gergin başladı in Hürriyet of October 16, 2010; Accessed April 12, 2011
  12. ↑ a b Balyoz'da 163 tutuklama , Dogan News Agency, February 11, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  13. ↑ Balyoz'un duruşma salonu genişletildi Milliyet of February 11, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011.
  14. ↑ a b Two more officers arrested in Turkey's 'Sledgehammer' sample NewsAz dated June 7, 2011; Accessed June 14, 2011
  15. ↑ Balyoz soruşturmasında bir ilk yaşandı. Takvim dated May 31, 2011; Accessed June 14, 2011.
  16. ↑ Bilvanis paşasına 20 yıl istendi daily newspaper Yeni Şafak from June 21, 2011, accessed on June 21, 2011.
  17. ↑ a b Akşam newspaper of August 16, 2001 ; Accessed August 16, 2011
  18. ↑ CNN Türk of November 9, 2011: “3. Balyoz iddianamesi “mahkemede ; Accessed November 13, 2011.
  19. ↑ a b Balyoz tutuklamalarına iki farklı yorum , Milliyet of February 12, 2001; Accessed April 12, 2011
  20. ↑ TÜSİAD'dan 'Balyoz' ve 'Ergenekon' yorumu , Dogan News Agency, February 18, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  21. ↑ a b Press release BA 05/11 ( Memento from April 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), published on the Turkish Armed Forces website on April 6, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  22. ↑ a b Şahin'den TSK'nın 'Balyoz' açıklamasına eleştiri CNN Türk dated April 7, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  23. ↑ Turkish Press Scan for Feb. 16 in Hürriyet Daily News of February 16, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  24. ↑ Turkish Press Scan for Feb. 17 in Hürriyet Daily News of February 17, 2011; Accessed April 12, 2011
  25. ↑ a b c d See the German monthly report of the Democratic Turkish Forum (DTF) for September 2012 or a detailed report in Turkish in the daily newspaper Radikal of September 21, 2012 ; Accessed on September 22, 2012
  26. ↑ See also the German monthly report of the Democratic Turkey Forum (DTF) for September 2012 , accessed on September 22, 2012
  27. ^ Decision of the ECHR: Cem Aziz Çakmak v. Turkey (French) and decision of the ECHR: Ali Rıza Sözen v. Turkey (French)
  28. ↑ See Bianet from June 18, 2014 AYM, Balyoz Davasında “Hak İhlali Var” Dedi and from June 19, 2014 Balyoz Davasında Tüm Sanıklara Tahliye or SRF (Swiss Broadcasting Television from June 20, 2014, hundreds of soldiers released in Turkey )
  29. ↑ See the DTF report for June 2014 , accessed on June 7, 2015
  30. ↑ See the message in Radikal of June 4, 2015 Balyoz'da 63 kişinin beraat kararı kesinleşti ; Accessed June 7, 2015