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General Staff seeks ‘judicial immunity' for members in custody
Today's Zaman learned that the file was prepared to clarify the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) position in the face of heated debate over a much-expected judicial reform.
The Justice Ministry seeks to make comprehensive changes to the Turkish legal system in line with the requirements of the EU, but the bill has long been awaiting approval in Parliament due to the reluctance of opposition parties to approve it.
On Tuesday evening, Chief of General Staff Gen. İlker Başbuğ gathered 15 active duty generals at an extraordinary meeting, reportedly to discuss a fresh wave of detentions of nearly 50 retired and active duty members of the military as part of a coup investigation. Twenty of them were arrested and put behind bars.
Çiçek was also invited to the meeting and was given a file that included the TSK requests on the planned judicial reform. The file suggested that active duty military members who were detained be tried in military courts. The file also asked that the fate of those officers be determined at the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meetings. The suggestions were interpreted by most observers as a request for “judicial immunity” for members of the armed forces.
News sources also claimed that the generals warned the government spokesman against the arrest of the members of the military in custody. Çiçek, however, strongly denied that such a thing occurred at the meeting.
The detentions were part of an ongoing investigation into two plans allegedly drafted by members of the military. Titled the Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and Kafes (Cage) operation plans, the plots included blowing up mosques during Friday prayers, attacking a museum with bombs and other explosives during a visit by students and turning stadiums into open-air prisons capable of holding tens of thousands of people if they challenged the coup troops.
There were also claims that all generals who attended Tuesday’s military meeting denied involvement in the alleged plans, and some even offered to submit their resignation rather than be faced with such accusations. Çiçek spoke to the Hürriyet daily on Thursday and said no such thing occurred. “I did not feel such a thing. Resignations were not even implied. There is a distressing situation there [for military members]. They were friends for many years and ate the same food. Now some of them are detained or arrested on serious charges. Such a thing would be depressing for any human being,” Çiçek told the daily. Today’s Zaman also learned that the government spokesperson forwarded the military file to Justice Ministry Undersecretary Ahmet Kahraman. The reaction of the undersecretary to the file was not immediately known.
The General Staff also shared its viewpoint in the file on several other issues related to the armed forces. Among them are the bill on the Supreme Court of Accounts, planned regulations for the restructuring of military administrative courts and the law on the trial of members of the military in civilian courts rather than at military tribunals.
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