According to some sources, there was a coup d'état in 1993 in Turkey, allegedly organised and carried out by elements of the Turkish military through covert means. Although the early 1990s were a period of great violence in Turkey due to the Kurdish-Turkish conflict, 1993 saw a series of suspicious deaths: of President Turgut ÃÂzal, leading military figures, and journalists. Particularly in the context of the Ergenekon trials from 2008 onwards and related investigations into the Turkish deep state and the suspicious deaths from this period, claims of a "covert coup" intended to prevent a peace settlement (and to protect the covert relationships between the Turkish military, intelligence services including JITEM, Counter-Guerrilla, certain Kurdish groups including Kurdish Hizbollah, and the Turkish mafia) have been made.
Fikri SaÃÂlar, a former member of the parliamentary commission which investigated the Susurluk scandal which first began to shed light on the Turkish deep state, is one who has made such claims, describing "a covert military coup". Former PKK commander à Âemdin Sakñk has described an Ergenekon organization-linked group named the DoÃÂu ÃÂalñà Âma Grubu, holding it responsible for assassinations including those of Turkish Gendarmerie General Commander Eà Âref Bitlis (17 February), President Turgut ÃÂzal (17 April), General Bahtiyar Aydñn (22 October) and former Major Cem Ersever (4 November). In addition to the assassination of key figures supporting a peace process, several massacres took place in 1993, which it is claimed were intended as part of an alleged "strategy of tension". These include the May 24, 1993, PKK ambush and the Sivas and Baà ÂbaÃÂlar massacres in early July.
In the early 1990s, President Turgut ÃÂzal agreed to negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the events of the 1991 Gulf War having changed some of the geopolitical dynamics in the region. Apart from ÃÂzal, himself half-Kurdish, few Turkish politicians were interested in a peace process, nor was he more than a part of the PKK itself. In 1993, ÃÂzal was working on the peace plans with former finance minister Adnan Kahveci and General Commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie Eà Âref Bitlis. Negotiations led to a cease-fire declaration by the PKK on 20 March 1993âÂÂby which time Kahveci and Bitlis were dead.
With the PKK's ceasefire declaration in hand, ÃÂzal was planning to propose a major pro-Kurdish reform package at the next meeting of the National Security Council. The president's death on 17 April led to the postponement of that meeting, and the plans were never presented. A month later, the May 24, 1993, PKK ambush ensured the end of the peace process. Former PKK commander à Âemdin Sakñk maintains the attack was part of the DoÃÂu ÃÂalñà Âma Grubu's coup plans. Under the new Presidency of Süleyman Demirel and Premiership of Tansu ÃÂiller, the Castle Plan (to use any and all means to solve the Kurdish question using violence), which ÃÂzal had opposed, was enacted, and the peace process abandoned. Further massacres (notably the Sivas massacre and Baà ÂbaÃÂlar massacre in early July) and assassinations ensured that the peace process was well and truly buried.
Former General Levent Ersöz, who was head of JITEM and is considered a key suspect in the Ergenekon trials, was charged in 2013 with having had a role in the 1993 death of President Turgut ÃÂzal.