Turkish police conducted a raid early Feb. 22 on the homes and offices of retired Turkish generals and others, and several individuals were arrested. The raid is a part of an ongoing investigation into an alleged plan by the Turkish military, dubbed “Sledgehammer” by the Turkish media, to spark anti-secular movements throughout the country in order to create the necessary pretext to take over the government. Thus far, the investigation has targeted retired and serving military officials. Former 1st Army Gen. Cetin Dogan, former deputy commander of the Turkish Armed Forces Ergin Saygun, former navy Gen. Ozden Ornek and former air force Gen. Ibrahim Firtina are among those who are accused of being involved in army plots to topple the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The raid comes at a time when the struggle between the AKP and Turkey’s strictly secular civilian and military bureaucracy has intensified within the judiciary. The AKP government has recently been criticized by the judiciary for allegedly interfering with the independence of judges and prosecutors. However, with the investigation and arrest of retired generals over the Sledgehammer plot, the AKP has shown its ability to make countermoves and contain the army’s traditional influence in Turkish politics. Even though the arrested generals are not on active duty, this is a clear message to the Turkish army that the civilian government is growing more confident in challenging Turkey’s traditional power centers.

The Sledgehammer plan was revealed in January, and allegedly outlined actions the military considered taking in 2003, including bombing an Istanbul mosque and shooting down a Turkish jet over the Aegean Sea and blaming Greece in order to create necessary conditions to call a state of emergency and take over the government. The head of the Turkish army, Ilker Basbug, however, has fiercely denied those allegations. Dogan, said to be behind the plan, defended Sledgehammer as a war exercise and a usual contingency plan.

Since 2007, the Turkish government has conducted a wide-ranging investigation of former soldiers, journalists and academicians who are accused of creating an organization called Ergenekon to topple the AKP government. Since the beginning of the probe, the AKP has used it to crack down on military and civilian forces that may pose a challenge to the AKP. It is also supported by the Islamist Gulen movement, which carries significant influence among Turkey’s police intelligence, enabling the AKP to build additional cases against their domestic opponents. Whether the recent investigation of the Sledgehammer plan will be merged with the Ergenekon case remains to be seen. But the fact that some of the arrested generals are being sent to Istanbul to be questioned by Ergenekon prosecutors supports this possibility.

This article is published at Lebanonwire by agreement with www.stratfor.com, the world's leading private intelligence provider.

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