A four-year sentence handed down by a military court to a lieutenant colonel who was responsible for weapons buried underground and unearthed during the Ergenekon investigation and his dismissal from the army has shocked supporters of Ergenekon, a clandestine gang accused of plotting to stage a coup d'état, and might signal a purging inside the military, observers say.

Lt. Col. Mustafa Dönmez was sentenced to four years by the General Staff Military Court in a ruling announced on Feb. 5 and also discharged from the military, as he was the person in charge of weaponry found buried in Ankara's Zir Valley in January of last year. In a related development, Col. Recep Gençoğlu, commander of the Eskişehir Regiment, was arrested by a civilian court last week on charges of being behind a plot to undermine the AK Party government. This also contradicts an earlier indication that the men might be released, as initial remarks on the two cases made by Chief of Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ were in defense of both officers.The Zir Valley excavation was carried out on Jan. 12, 2009, based on a map of the area seized in Dönmez's house in Ankara. Two hand grenades, 12 rocket launchers, 800 G-3 bullets and various other types of ammunition were found in this excavation. A search of Dönmez's summerhouse in Sapanca also found 22 hand grenades, 10 handguns, one G3 assault rifle and a number of bullets.Observers note that the ruling of the General Staff Military Court will make it very difficult for some circles, both inside and outside the military, who assert that there is actually no such organization as Ergenekon, and that the ongoing trial is only a witch-hunt supported by the government to crush its political enemies. Observers say the court's ruling will make the job of defending Ergenekon suspects much more difficult for some of their outspoken supporters.One such person might be none other than the top military officer Gen. Başbuğ, who called a press meeting on April 29, 2009, in which he denied that the guns found buried in Ankara's Zir Valley and İstanbul's Poyrazköy district belonged to the military. He had also said that a light anti-tank weapon (LAW) found during the excavations belonged to the National Police Department, adding that Lt. Col. Dönmez's trial was being heard at the time. “We always say that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. As I speak, Lt. Col. Mustafa Dönmez is being tried. Now some say that some of the munitions found here belong to the Turkish Armed Forces' [TSK] Special Forces Command. Until the year 1986, there were munitions buried underground that belonged to the Special Forces. After that year, all those were gathered and stored in depots. This process was completed in 1998. The Turkish Armed Forces has no weapons or munitions buried underground anywhere inside Turkey's borders.”Erzurum court decisionA similar ruling potentially damaging to pro-Ergenekon arguments came on Feb. 5 from the city of Erzurum, where Eskişehir Provincial Gendarmerie Regiment Commander Col. Recep Gençoğlu was arrested by order of the Erzurum 2nd High Criminal Court. Gençoğlu had earlier been detained as part of the Ergenekon organization. He faces charges of starting to implement the Erzurum leg of an illegal military action plan, called the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which was signed by Col. Dursun Çiçek. On Jan. 31, he was released by the court he had been referred to pending trial. However, he was detained again on Feb. 3 following an appeal from a specially authorized prosecutor's office in Erzurum and placed in the Eskişehir 1st Navy Forces Command Military Hospital. When the court's decision was announced, he was moved to a military prison in Erzurum.The action plan, devising a strategy to undermine the AK Party government and the faith-based Gülen group, was made public on June 12, 2009 by a Turkish daily. The document had the signature of Col. Çiçek on it. Çiçek had denied the signature belonged to him and was detained and released twice in the investigation. Speaking at a press conference after the exposure of the plan, Gen. Başbuğ had referred to it as “just a piece of paper.”He had said that the General Staff Military Prosecutor's Office had carried out a thorough investigation and decided that no legal action would be necessary until new documents or other evidence were presented.Despite the controversy, Col. Çiçek was not dismissed from the military at the 2009 Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting, where dismissals and promotions are decided annually. He is now not under arrest, but the fact that Gençoğlu, who is accused of having put the plan into action in Erzurum, was arrested, might change the situation, as Gençoğlu's arrest also largely proves that the action plan was an authentic plot.Observers are curious about what decisions the TSK will make at the YAŞ meeting this August. Many believe that Col. Çiçek is more than likely to be dismissed. The fate of some officers arrested in an alleged plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç is also being anticipated with great curiosity as the dismissal of these individuals might hint at a new direction inside the military where coup instigators are no longer wanted. 08 February 2010, MondayERCAN YAVUZ  ANKARA