ANKARA – Turkey announced promotions for senior brass on Wednesday, but left the top posts of head of the armed forces and commander of ground forces unfilled amid investigations into senior military officers allegedly planning a military coup.
An ongoing investigation into an alleged plot to overthrow Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s government in 2003, known as “Operation Sledgehammer”, had cast doubt over senior army promotions decided by the Supreme Military Council, which began on Sunday.
The council had been expected to appoint General Isik Kosaner, the current ground forces chief, as chief of staff for NATO’s second largest armed forces when General Ilker Basbug steps down at the end of August.
The state-run Anatolia news agency, which reported the promotions, said Basbug would retire as planned.
Analysts say Kosaner’s promotion has been delayed because of uncertainty over who would replace him as commander of ground forces.
The general in line for the post, Hasan Igsiz, was one of 19 officers summoned earlier this week to testify in a probe into a campaign to discredit the ruling AK Party and civil society organizations on the internet.
Separately, arrest warrants in connection with “Sledgehammer” have been issued for 11 other senior officers who were up for promotion. None of those figured on the promotions list released by Anatolia.
The military views itself as guardian of Turkey’s secular system, and some secularists accuse Erdogan’s AK Party of having an Islamist agenda
Turkey’s military staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and persuaded a fourth government to resign in 1997.
The promotions panel normally uses its reviews to weed out suspected Islamist sympathizers among its officer corps, but unusually there were no expulsions announced this time.
Though Erdogan has curbed its powers through reforms introduced to support the country’s bid to join the European Union, the military is still an influential force.
The government traditionally has lacked significant influence over the military-dominated 15-member council, as decisions are taken by majority vote, though Erdogan chairs the council and Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul sits on it.
Igsiz, commander of the prestigious First Army, had been tipped to succeed Kosaner as head of the Turkish land forces. But while the council was in session, a state prosecutor summoned Igsiz and 18 other officers to give statements in a case related to anti-AK Party websites.
According to newspaper reports, President Abdullah Gül, who signs off on the promotions, had told Basbug before the council convened on Sunday that promoting officers under investigation would send the wrong message.
The alleged “Sledgehammer” plot involved bombing mosques and triggering conflict with Greece in order to destabilize Erdogan’s government. The military says “Sledgehammer” was merely a war-game exercise presented at a seminar. Trials in the case are expected to commence later this year.
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