Turkey: Top military officer arrested on coup charges
Turkish court has ordered the arrest of the highest-ranking active-duty military officer charged with plotting to overthrow the government.
War Academies Commander Gen. Bilgin Balanlı, who testified for three hours in front of the prosecutor before being sent to court and then testified in court for another four hours Monday, is the first active-duty top general arrested in connection with the alleged coup plans. Gen. Balanlı was arrested as a suspect in the ongoing “Balyoz” (Sledgehammer) case, which is based on documents reportedly seized in February from a house that belonged to Col. Hakan Büyük. A member of the intelligence branch of the Turkish Armed Forces, or TSK, Col. Büyük has already been arrested on charges of plotting a military coup. The new evidence regarding the case, according to police reports, consists of written documents, video files and digital material on a flash disk, and includes plans to be put into action if the alleged coup attempt were to fail. Eight active-duty officers were released early Saturday after providing 12 hours of testimony in Istanbul on the same charges.