Turkish admiral arrested on assassination plot charges

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Turkish high criminal court arrested Naval Forces Command Staff Adm. Deniz Cora as part of a probe into an alleged plot devised by a group of naval officers to assassinate several admirals.

A second indictment filed as part of the investigation into the plot was accepted in early August by the Istanbul 12th High Criminal Court, which is currently hearing the trial based on the first indictment in the investigation. The new indictment accuses Adm. Cora and Navy Col. Ümit Metin of having been involved in a plot to assassinate former Naval Forces Commander Adm. Metin Ataç and current Naval Forces Commander Adm. Eşref Uğur Yiğit.

The court issued an arrest warrant for Cora last week. The admiral came to Beşiktaş Courthouse and turned himself in. Prosecutor Salim Duran has included evidence obtained during a search of the Gölcük Naval Base last year, where hundreds of documents detailing the plotters’ intentions were found hidden under the floor tiles. The initial investigation into the alleged assassination plots began in 2010 after an anonymous tipster warned the police of a plot to kill two admirals.

In the ensuing investigation, 500 grams of TNT was found during searches of some homes and offices in Kocaeli and Istanbul, after which counterterrorism units took over the investigation, Today’s Zaman reported.