Former chief of general staff says Bush administration supported plot against Turkish army

ANKARA

DHA photo

Former Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ presented his defense at a second hearing before the Supreme Court of Appeals in the Ergenekon coup plot case on Oct. 7.Former Chief of General Staff said a plot was laid against the Turkish Armed Forces.Başbuğ was asked who was behind the “game” played against the Turkish Armed Forces and replied, “The George W. Bush administration has supported the game against the Turkish Armed Forces,” adding that the Gülen movement was the main perpetrator of the violation of law via their cadre placed in the judiciary and police department.With statements such as “What they have asked and we did not give?” and “We were cheated,” the U.S. government clearly stated they had given support to the Gülen movement, Başbuğ also said.He was targeted by the Gülen movement because of his statements against the group, Başbuğ said.The Ergenekon coup plot trial, considered the most important legal battle in recent Turkish history, reached an end on Aug. 5, 2013, after Istanbul’s 13th High Criminal Court handed down severe punishments.The verdict trial, which decided the fate of 275 suspects at the end of a five-year process, resulted in hundreds of years of imprisonment in total and several aggravated life sentences for a series of the country’s high-ranking army members, journalists and academics.Suspects faced a series of charges from a combined mass of different cases, but with the overall focus around their implication in the Ergenekon network, which was ultimately acknowledged by the court as a terrorist organization that had attempted to overthrow the government.The trial was sent to the Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor’s Office following the appeals issued.Turkey’s Supreme Court of Appeals Prosecutor’s Office has demanded the reversal of the decision in the Ergenekon coup plot case from a methodological perspective, without entering the essence of the case.