A Turkish court formally charged and ordered seven senior Turkish military officers to be jailed yesterday for allegedly plotting several years ago to overthrow the Islamic-leaning government.
The wiretap evidence and discovery of alleged military plans drafted in 2003 to overthrow the government led to the detention of about 50 commanders on Monday in the highest profile crackdown ever on the military which has ousted four governments since 1960.
The court in Istanbul ordered that four admirals, an army general and two staff colonels be jailed. It released six other officers yesterday but it was not clear whether they were freed pending trial.
Prosecutors were still questioning dozens of other high-ranking officers, including former chiefs of the navy, air force and special forces.
The crackdown dramatically escalated tensions in the country between the military-backed secular establishment and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose Islamic-leaning government has strong electoral backing and the EU’s support. Top generals and admirals met at the military headquarters on Tuesday and issued a brief statement, saying they discussed “the serious situation” regarding the investigation.
Deniz Baykal, head of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, accused the government on Tuesday of engaging in a “political showdown.”
“Why you waited for seven years?” Baykal asked. “These are commanders who wear pajamas and slippers now!”
Baykal, however, signaled that he would support the prosecution of military leaders who actually toppled governments in the past, in an apparent reference to General Kenan Evren, the leader of the 1980 coup.
Erdogan denies the crackdown is politically driven. He insists his efforts to improve human rights and bring Turkey into line with EU standards is evidence that his government is seeking to enhance democracy, while putting the military under civilian rule as in the West.
The alleged secret military plans — dubbed “the sledgehammer” — included blowing up mosques during Friday prayers and turning stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people if they challenged the troops.
Turkey was abuzz on Tuesday with speculation over whether recordings of the plotters, posted on leading Web sites, could possibly be genuine.
In one, a top officer accuses the political leadership of trying to “tear down the country and carry it into another [Islamic] regime.”
He says: “I will unleash [my forces] over Istanbul ... It is our duty to act without mercy.” The crackdown has signaled that a major political shift is under way in Turkey, NATO’s sole Muslim member and a US ally. The country’s stability is crucial for Washington and the EU, which want Turkey to develop into a mature democracy.
“What is striking about this struggle is that nobody had ever held the military accountable for what it had done. No one ever said what you are doing is wrong,” Henri Barkey, a Turkey expert with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said by telephone from Washington.
“A societal change is taking place in Turkey at the moment,” Barkey said.
It is widely believed that General Hilmi Ozkok, then head of the military, did not back his subordinates. He was not implicated in the alleged plot.
It was the latest in a series of alleged coup plots in recent years. More than 400 people, including academics, journalists and politicians in addition to soldiers, have already been charged in a previous case. No one has been convicted.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number