Leaked cables reveal close US interest in Turkish coup plans

?STANBUL

US diplomats said Col.Çiçek’s alleged coup plan is a psychological operations campaign to discredit the government and the Gülen movement.

Leaked cables from the US Embassy in Ankara among the 250,000 confidential cables obtained by the website WikiLeaks have revealed that the United States is closely following anti-democratic attempts against the government in Turkey.
The cables from the US Embassy in Ankara brief the Washington administration about coup plans in Turkey as well as probes into these coup plans.
“Reports of coup plots against Prime Minister [Recep Tayyip] Erdo?an’s Islamist-leaning government have been a staple of the Turkish media since 2007. Despite protests by Turkey’s top brass that there is no substance to the allegations, a growing percentage of the population believes that at least some elements within the military have been plotting to undermine or even overthrow the [Justice and Development Party] AKP-led government.
The coup allegations have served as fodder for the Ergenekon prosecution team and some of the plots have been included in the formal indictments against senior retired military officers. The net result of these allegations has been a gradual erosion of the public trust toward the military,” say the cables.
The Turkish agenda has been full of with allegations surrounding a number of coup plots revealed by prosecutors and journalists in the past few years. The diplomatic cables Wikileaks leaked late on Sunday show that the US Embassy in Ankara has also been following the news with utmost care
The leaked documents make references to all the coup plans in Turkey, including the ones mentioned in the leaked diaries of retired Adm. Özden Örnek in addition to the “Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism,” “Cage” and “Sledgehammer” coup plans that all aimed to create chaos in the country with the ultimate goal of a military takeover.
About the “Cage” action plan, the cables said: “This plot involved senior navy flag officers and was uncovered during the April 2009 search of the home of retired Navy Lieutenant Commander Levent Bekta?, an Ergenekon suspect, and was revealed by Taraf in November 2009. The plot included plans to assassinate prominent non-Muslim figures and blame these attacks on the AKP in order to increase foreign and domestic pressure for the AKP to step down.”
About the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which was uncovered by the Taraf daily last year, US Embassy officials in Ankara said: “The plan outlined a psychological operations campaign to discredit the ruling AKP as well as other ‘sources of fundamentalism,’ including the Fetullah Gülen movement.
The action plan was allegedly drafted by Naval Infantry Colonel Dursun Çiçek in 2009 under orders of then-Deputy CHOD Hasan I?s?z, with the knowledge and tacit approval of [former chief of general staff] Gen. ?lker Ba?bu? himself.”
The Sledgehammer coup plan was also closely followed by US authorities in Ankara as revealed by the leaked cables. In the cables, some information was given about when and by whom the Sledgehammer coup plan was prepared. It said the Sledgehammer plot was prepared in 2003 by the Turkish First Army, under its then-commander Gen. Çetin Do?an. “The plan, which has been denied by both the military and retired General Dogan, involved false-flag bombing of mosques and efforts to provoke a military crisis with Greece in order to create the conditions for a military intervention,” it also read.
Mossad chief expects military’s meddling in politics
Meanwhile, the classified documents also revealed that in a meeting with US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns in August, Israeli Mossad Director Meir Dagan said he expects the Turkish military to meddle in politics.
“It [Israel] looks at Turkey and sees Islamists gaining momentum there. The question, he asked, is how long Turkey’s military — viewing itself as the defender of Turkey’s secular identity — will remain quiet.”

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