Seven top military officers arrested in Turkey for alleged attempts to overthrow the country's civilian government were formally charged with the crime Wednesday.
They include four admirals, a general and two colonels and were among the 40-odd officers arrested for their alleged role in the planned military coup codenamed "Sledgehammer."
Monday's crackdown was the first against senior military personnel in Turkey, although several lower ranked Army men were tried on similar charges in the past.
Details of the plot came out after the local Taraf newspaper was tipped off by sources within the Turkish Army. Later it handed over documents running into 5,000 pages plus several CDs detailing the operation to the prosecutor's office.
According to the plan, drafted between December 2002 to early 2003 and signed by Cetin Dogan, the then commander of Turkey's 1st Army, the election victory of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was "a major step backwards" in the fight against the Islamist brand of politics.
Sledgehammer consisted of four "action plans," including a plot to bomb two major Istanbul mosques, Beyazit and Fatih, during Friday prayers.
It also called for a secret discussion of the plans by top Turkish military commanders following which 160 officers attended a seminar convened in March 2003 in the Selimiye Army barracks in Istanbul.
Moreover, tabs were kept on senior government officials and members of the judiciary with a "plus" or "minus" rating given.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.