The documents were part of a PowerPoint presentation that was supposedly planned by the Turkish general staff for internal planning review.
Titled “TSK Çakabey Harekât Planlama Direktifi” (Turkish Armed Forces Çakabey Operation Planning Directive), the presentation was dated June 13, 2014. According to the Nordic Monitor report, this suggests the plan was likely updated and finalized after a review of some earlier draft, and that the plan could still be active.
Also included in the same document were plans to invade Armenia, the operation in this case being titled “TSK Altay Harekât Planlama Direktifi,” which was dated August 15, 2000.
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The documents were exchanged by top general staff commanders via a secure internal email system, the news portal reported. They appear to have been accidentally leaked in a court case file in Ankara that prosecutor Serdar Coskun submitted to the court as part of an investigation into the failed military coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in July 2016.
All of the general staff’s emails from the two months preceding the coup were seized by the prosecution.
The general staff had panicked over the possible leaking of the classified documents and urged the court to allow the documents to be screened before being presented. It appears, however, that the prosecutors ignored these concerns, the Nordic Monitor reported.
However, while the plans were named in the document, any specific details were omitted, likely being classified and therefore not shared through the network.
It is believed that the plans were prepared as a contingency regarding developments in Syria, in order to maintain offensive and deterrence capabilities on the Western front while moving troops, according to Nordic Monitor.
The inspiration for the operation’s name, Çaka Bey, better known as Chaka Bey and Tzachas, was a Seljuk Turk military commander and ruler of an independent state based in modern day Izmir. Chaka Bey was originally a commander in the service of the Byzantine Empire, but rebelled and began seizing power through conquest. At one point, he even declared himself Byzantine emperor.
Chaka Bey is a much revered figure in Turkey, with the Turkish Naval Command listing him as the first Turkish admiral and founder of the first modern Turkish navy; there is even a statue of him in their museum in Istanbul, the Nordic Monitor reported.
