Former Turkish chief of general staff Ilker Basbug, who was jailed for life last year for plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government, walked free from prison on Friday after a court ordered his release.
“We were put behind bars by those who act on revenge and hatred,” Basbug said in an emotional speech following his release from the high-security Silivri prison near Istanbul, where he was held for more than two years.
“Prison means pain, agony and suffering,” he said. “But I do not harbor any revenge or hatred because love conquers hatred.”
The release came a day after the Turkish Constitutional Court ruled that Basbug’s legal rights had been violated, saying that a lower Turkish court had failed to publish its detailed verdict on the case and send it to the appeals court.
The court has imposed an overseas travel ban on the ex-commander, according to local media.
Basbug was initially detained in 2012, before being sentenced to life in prison in August last year, along with hundreds of other military officers who were given long jail terms for their roles in the so-called “Ergenekon” conspiracy to overthrow the Turkish government.
Basbug said he would continue his legal struggle until his last comrade in jail is set free.
“My release is just the beginning,” he said. “I firmly believe that all of my comrades will be released soon. If that does not happen, there is no point in my being released.”
“Our hands are clean. We have only one demand: justice,” he said.
The 71-year-old general, who led the army between 2008 and 2010, again denied the charges.
“Turkish people have understood that we have no interest in plotting a coup, that it is unacceptable to accuse a general of being a member of a terrorist organization,” he said.
The military, which sees itself as the guarantor of Turkey’s secular constitution, has carried out three coups — in 1960, 1971 and 1980 — and pressured an Islamist government to step down in 1997.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent the best part of his 11 years in power trying to curb the military’s influence.
He has recently sought to bring the Turkish army to his side as he fights for political survival in a bitter feud with his ally-turned-opponent Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric whom he accuses of instigating a corruption scandal to topple him.
In a conciliatory gesture toward the army that increases the chances of retrials for the hundreds of convicted officers, the Turkish parliament in February abolished the specially appointed courts that tried them.
The Constitutional Court’s ruling could set a precedent for more than 200 others jailed for their alleged roles in coup conspiracies.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was