The discharge of officers in this meeting, held every August, is the source of much debate as these officers are unable to seek redress through the judiciary. At this year's YAŞ meeting, Land Forces Commander Gen. İlker Başbuğ was appointed the new chief of general staff, as expected, replacing Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt. As is the case every year, YAŞ decisions have been extensively covered by the Turkish press.Radikal's Murat Yetkin finds it interesting that no matter what decisions are made at the YAŞ meetings, they become a source of debate. "If some officers had been discharged from the military at the YAŞ meeting, we would be discussing this now. No officers were discharged and we are discussing it," says Yetkin. Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, he says the TSK did not want to be a source of further debate. In Yetkin's view, promotions and assignments at the YAŞ meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for a few hours and then by Chief of General Staff Gen. Büyükanıt for the remainder of the meeting, shows an ongoing restructuring process within the TSK. "During this process, it is possible to say that the TSK is both trying to respond to unjust criticism leveled at it due to an investigation into Ergenekon, a crime network suspected of plotting to topple the government [because some former members of the TSK have been detained as part of the Ergenekon investigation], and that it is also trying to clear away elements which tend to create more problems for it," comments Yetkin.
Milliyet's Hasan Cemal talks about debates and speculations that surface before and after every YAŞ meeting by giving examples from the past and says the identity of the chiefs of general staff and force commanders are always closely followed by the media and political circles. "Yet, this is not an ordinary thing. It should not be this way. In advanced democracies, the armed forces are not a focus of interest, unlike our case. No one cares so much about military changes of command in those countries," says Cemal. As for the underlying reason for this, he thinks one sentence is sufficient: "Since the military and politics are very closely connected and the military is like a state within a state or like a political party, everyone is very interested in what goes on in the TSK."
Another Milliyet columnist, Fikret Bila, talks about new Chief of General Staff Gen. Başbuğ, who is set to take over from Gen. Büyükanıt on Aug. 30. "Gen. Başbuğ is a commander who is very experienced on the front in the struggle against terrorism as well as in decision-making mechanisms. Apart from being a commander who took an active role in the fight against terrorism and who has led operations, he has the skills of a diplomat," says Bila. Referring to his meetings with Başbuğ, he says Başbuğ is also a very intellectual person who closely follows world developments and takes into account the socio-economic factors for terrorism instead of focusing on its military dimension alone. "It is realistic to say that he will continue to mull such aspects of counterterrorism during his term in office," Bila maintains.
