General Isik Kosaner

"Landep News"

General Isik Kosaner

Turkish president Abdullah Gul appointed on Saturday General Necdet Ozel as the new chief of Turkish Armed Forces after the chief of army, the navy and air chief resigned their stations as a court charged 22 suspects, including generals and officers, with a plot on the internet to topple the government.

Another reason seems related to promotions in the army, scheduled for next week, after the chiefs of the army had proposed some of the generals investigated to be promoted.

The resigning chief of army, General Isik Kosaner, who had taken the job a year ago, had a series of negotiations with the prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan but they failed to settle these differences.

The government insists that the generals went into retirement, while General Kosaner asserts they resigned as a protest for the jailing of their fellow officers in many court cases.

The plot was called the “Sledgehammer conspiracy” and is alleged to refer to a plan first tabled at a military seminar in 2003, according to which the military would bomb Turkish mosques and create a conflict with Greece in order to create chaos in the country, thus justifying the intervention of the army, which would take over.

The plan has been investigated by Turkish justice, and seventeen generals and admirals which are in line for promotion were jailed in the case of Sledgehammer conspiracy. 200 officers were charged with conspiracy.

The defendants pretend in their defense that the Sledgehammer was just a scenario intended to help Turkish army develop a defense strategy in case the events depicted in it were to become reality.

These massive resignations are unprecedented in Turkey, which has already been through a series of military coups between 1960 and 1980.

Turkish military is the defender of the republic and secularism in Turkey, and plays a major part in the power structure of this country, which is also a valuable member of NATO.

Turkish Army

The resignations are seen as a sign of conflict between the military old guard and the new Muslim elite promoted by Prime Minister Erdogan.

Some analysts consider that this is the symbolic gesture of military’s complete defeat in the fight with the political leaders and the sign that its implication in political matters is over.

The Turkish military general staff used its prerogatives in the past to induce governments to resign.

Such was the case in 1997, when Necmetin Erbakan’s government was toppled after the military expressed against the introduction of Islamic customs in the society.

Although this move is not expected to harm Turkey’s reputation in the world, it could cause a few concerns considering the very serious political shakeup in the Muslim countries in Turkey’s vicinity.

Turkey has shown sings that it wants to play a major role in the political landscape configurated after the revolutions in the Arab world

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