Turkish military top brass sacked to prevent political crisis

PanARMENIAN.Net - The resignation of Chief of Staff of Turkish Armed Forces Ishik Koshaner is a planned action of the Turkish authorities to prevent the beginning of possible political crisis, Trend cites Turkish political analyst Ismail Yasha as saying.

"The representatives of the highest ranks of the Turkish army have recently made a lot of faults," he told Trend over phone. "In particular, they interfered in the investigation on the overthrow of the power in the country."

Yesterday, Chief of Staff of Turkish Armed Forces Ishik Koshaner resigned after a meeting in private with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. As reported by the Turkish media, Erdogan wanted to Koshaner retired. In response, Koshaner resigned.

Along with Koshaner other three Land, Naval, Air Armed Forces Generals, Erdal Jeylanoghlu, Hasan Aksay, Ughur Yighit asked for retirements as well, local media reported.

The expert said that Koshaner's resignation was inevitable after 13 soldiers of the Turkish army were killed while clashing with Kurdish rebels.

"This case shows that the Turkish army needs reorganizing," he said.

Separatist Kurdish rebels killed 13 Turkish soldiers and wounded six others on July 14 in Diyarbakir province.

The case on investigating the details of the incident was transferred from the army to the police according to the governmental decree. The expert also thinks that after Koshaner's resignation, the ruling Justice and Development Party's positions will be strengthened.

"The differences between the army and the government after the "Sledgehammer" plan could lead to chaos in the country," the expert said. "After Koshaner's resignation, the ruling Justice and Development Party's positions will be strengthened and there will be no threat of chaos."

According to the pro-governmental newspaper Taraf's assumptions, Turkish Armed Forces prepared the "Sledgehammer" plan to overthrow the government in 2010.

The expert also stressed that no political crisis is expected to occur in Turkey in connection with Koshaner's resignation, as the population of the country welcomes the resignation of Chief of Staff of Turkish Armed Forces.

"The people welcome the beginning of reorganizing the Turkish army," he said.