Assassination plot against Fethullah Gülen

M. Fethullah Gulen
M. Fethullah Gulen


Date posted: March 22, 2012

22 March 2012 / TODAY’S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL

Former Chief of General Staff retired Gen. Hilmi Özkök was the target of a planned assassination by pro-coup generals within the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) in 2004, which was prevented when US officials in Baghdad discovered the plan and notified Turkish authorities about it, according to a recently published book.

The book, “Pirus — Devşirme Orduların Son Savaşı” (Pyrrhic — Last War of Devşirme Armies), is co-authored by journalists Mehmet Baransu and Tuncay Opçin.

According to the book, pro-coup generals at the time, who failed to get the support of Özkök to stage a coup, collaborated with the terrorist Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C) organization to ensure the killing of Özkök so that they could stage a military takeover.

After killing Özkök, then Land Forces Commander Gen. Aytaç Yalman, a pro-coup general, would succeed Özkök, and Yalman would be succeeded by then Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Şener Eruygur, both of whom would facilitate a coup.

However, US officials in Baghdad notified Turkish authorities about the assassination plot against Özkök, foiling the plans.

The journal entries of journalist Mustafa Balbay, who used to keep notes of his meetings with pro-coup generals, also confirm assassination plans against Özkök.

Cumhuriyet daily Ankara representative Balbay was detained on March 7, 2009, as part of the investigation into Ergenekon, a shadowy crime network with alleged links within the state and suspected of plotting to topple the government. Documents found on his computer include a detailed coup journal kept by him in which he took notes on his past meetings with army generals. Balbay is now jailed pending trial in the Ergenekon case.

According to reports, the routes used by Özkök in his daily activities were changed and security measures were greatly intensified after the emergence of assassination plots against the general. Özkök also began to bring food from home reportedly out of fear of poisoning from the food at the military headquarters.

Assassination plot against Gülen

According to the book, the Turkish Revenge Brigade planned an assassination against Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen during the days surrounding the Feb. 28, 1997 military coup, when Gülen was closely followed by the West Study Group (BÇG), which was established by the TSK to carry on the fight against reactionaryism and kept records of the ideological and religious background of academics and universities during the Feb. 28 process.

Two would-be hitmen, who were to assassinate Gülen, were detained before they carried out their plans as part of a probe into an assassination attempt against then Human Rights Association (İHD) President Akın Birdal in 1998.

Source: Today’s Zaman http://www.todayszaman.com/news-275046-pro-coup-generals-plotted-to-assassinate-ex-army-chief-ozkok-book-reveals.html


Related News

Part of Turkish media say have been shut out by government

Turkish media close to a US-based Islamic preacher accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of seeking to usurp power say they have been shut out of government press events in a move they see as evidence of Turkey’s deteriorating press freedoms.

Mr. Gülen’s felicitous advice on Kurdish issue, freedoms

BÜLENT KENEŞ The interview Mr. Fethullah Gülen, a well-respected Turkish-Islamic scholar, gave to Rudaw, an online newspaper in northern Iraq’s Arbil, resounded powerfully in the Turkish media. I must note that it would be wrong to analyze the views Mr. Gülen expressed in this interview within the scope of the developments that have occurred in the wake of […]

Islamic scholar Gülen calls for calm among supporters

Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has called on his supporters to remain calm and be patient in the wake of rumors that Istanbul police were planning to start an operation to round up hundreds of people close to his movement. Gülen called for patience and calm among the relatives of those who are being probed or expecting probes against them, advising them to pray and read the Quran.

Turkey’s Unethical Interference in American (Muslim) Civic Society is Dangerous

The Erdogan government jails its citizens without due process, severely curtails freedom of speech by jailing journalists, and ignores the plight of vulnerable minorities. They are the least credible messengers to warn Americans about their civic duty. The Turkish Consulate’s attempt to use McCarthyite tactics to spread fear and unduly influence American civic life is simply abhorrent and deserves condemnation.

Fethullah Gulen – a humanist par excellence

LAHORE, Nov 21, 2012: Hizmet Movement was launched in Turkey with the aim of serving individual, society and religion as had been the teaching of Fethullah Gulen. This was consensus among speakers at an international conference on “Ideal human and ideal society in the thoughts of M Fethullah Gulen,” arranged at the Punjab University Law […]

Defamation – Turkey’s Justice Minister: Gülen Followers Take Christian Names To Infiltrate Western States

Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ said on Monday that followers of Gülen movement, change their Turkish names in order to infiltrate into the institutions of the Western states.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Erdoğan’s dream: Seizing Gülen’s network

Deported Turkish Teacher Was Denied Political Asylum, DP Calls For Independent Investigation

An Experience of Co-Existence: Panel on the Example of Istanbul and Şanlıurfa

Turkey’s Gulen movement sees a smear campaign

Turkish coup was Erdogan ‘gift’

Journalists and Writers Foundation-European Union Delegation Roundtable Meeting

Hizmet, Erdoğan and the US

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News