ISTANBUL, Turkey — Chilling allegations emerged in November of a detailed plot by Turkish naval officers to perpetrate threats and violence against the nation’s non-Muslims in an effort to implicate and unseat Turkey’s pro-Islamic government.
Evidence put forth for the plot appeared on an encrypted CD discovered last April but was only recently deciphered; the daily Taraf newspaper first leaked details of the CD’s contents Nov. 19.
Titled the “Operation Cage Action Plan,” the plot outlines a plethora of planned threat campaigns, bomb attacks, kidnappings and assassinations to target the nation’s tiny religious minority communities — an apparent effort by military brass to discredit the ruling Justice and Development Party.
The scheme ultimately called for bombings of homes and buildings owned by non-Muslims, setting fire to homes, vehicles and businesses of Christian and Jewish citizens and murdering prominent leaders among the religious minorities.
The plan identified 939 non-Muslim representatives in Turkey as possible targets.
“If even half of what is written in Taraf is accurate, everybody with a conscience in this country has to go mad,” Eyup Can wrote in his “Hurriyet” column two days after the news broke.
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