Events
Prosecutors allege that one of the contributors to the plan is the West Study Group (BÇG) - a group allegedly formed as part of the 1997 "post-modern" coup.[1] According to an Istanbul Police report, the plan was masterminded by İbrahim Şahin and was devised by Ergenekon, and has links with the Zirve Publishing House massacre.[3][4] Yeni Şafak claimed in 2010 that according to documents retrieved by police, Şener Eruygur had attended Cage Plan meetings.[5]
The plan first came to light when prosecutors were told anonymously of the Rahmi M. Koç Museum finding explosives in the bottom of an exhibited submarine in December 2008.[6] The plan itself was found on a CD seized in the office of retired Major Levent Bektaş. The document was published by Mehmet Baransu in the Taraf newspaper on 19 November 2009.[7][8] An English translation of it exists.[9][10][11] The plan allegedly calls for political terrorism and assassinations to be enacted against various groups of Eastern Orthodox, Armenians, Kurds, Jews and Alevis.[12] The plan apparently originates from secret societies within the Turkish military.
Other documents allegedly relating to the Cage Plan were found at Gölcük Naval Command in 2010.[13] It has been suggested that the plan had already begun to be put into effect when it was exposed: in mid-2009 colored stickers had appeared (and just as suddenly, disappeared) on the doors of hundreds of non-Muslim households in Kurtuluş, an incident that remains unexplained.[14][15]
Mıgırdiç Margosyan linked the Cage Plan with previous conspiracies, including the provocation of the 1955 Istanbul riots.[16][17]
