His contacts with democratic officers helped him uncover illegal activities by certain groups within the army. He was given the 2009 Sedat Simavi Award by the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) for his groundbreaking reporting. Recently he published his book Karargah [the headquarters] (2010), where he disclosed evidence of the Sledgehammer coup plot. Baransu wrote "A guide for the perplexed: Why the Turkish military stages coups" (pp. 6-17) for the current volume of the TPR.