Turkey’s army chief of staff and the entire military command resigned on Friday in a row with the government over generals jailed in an alleged anti-government plot. General Isik Kosaner stepped down after several meetings with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent days ahead of an early August meeting of the army’s high command, which decides on promotions for senior officers, AFP reported.
Media reports blamed tensions between the military and Erdogan over army demands for the promotion of dozens of officers being held on suspicion of involvement in an alleged anti-government plot. As well as Kosaner, the commanders of the army, air force and navy also quit, NTV and CNN-Turk reported – a first for NATO member Turkey. Forty-two generals and dozens of officers are in jail pending a probe into alleged plots to unseat the government led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the moderate offshoot of a banned Islamist movement. Several of those held are retired, but senior officers in the army have been trying to get some of the serving officers promoted despite their incarceration.
The government insists the group be forced to retire. Members of the high command who stepped down on Friday have now themselves asked for early retirement, the Anatolia news agency reported.
