‘President should step in if suspected officers promoted in YAŞ’

YAŞ meets every August to discuss promotions and dismissals within the armed forces.

This year's meeting is extraordinarily important for Turkey in order to see the approach of the TSK in the face of alleged anti-democratic formations within itself. There are a couple of officers, all higher-ups, who await promotion at YAŞ. Most of them stand accused in separate trials of involvement in suspected military plots aimed at undermining the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.

Experts warned that President Abdullah Gül should use his right to refuse to sign the YAŞ decisions if the TSK moves to promote military officers who are on trial.

Ahmet Cengiz Tangören, a retired military judge, recalled that an article included in the Law on TSK Staff does not allow the promotion of a military member if he is on trial.

“Everyone has to respect the law. YAŞ should not make a decision to break the law. I hope the defense minister, prime minister and president will not allow the violation of laws,” he remarked. YAŞ decisions need to be approved by Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Gül to go into effect.

Another retired military judge, Yusuf Çağlayan, agreed, adding that military officers who are on trial cannot get a promotion unless they are acquitted of all charges. “The YAŞ decisions will be null and void if the president does not sign them. I believe the president will not allow any decision to go against the law,” he stated.

Among the military officers who have suspected ties to anti-democratic groups within the armed forces and await promotion in this year's YAŞ meeting are Gen. Hasan Iğsız, Gen. Saldıray Berk, Gen. Yurdaer Olcan, Gen. Nejat Bek, Gen. İhsan Balabanlı, Vice Adm. Kadir Sağdıç, Rear Adm. Mehmet Fatih İlğar, Vice Adm. Mehmet Otuzbiroğlu and Gen. Gürbüz Kaya.

Gen. Iğsız hopes to be promoted to commander of the land forces, but he is believed to have given the order to a now-jailed colonel to prepare a military plot to undermine the ruling party and a faith-based group. His signature appears on the alleged document. He has not been included in separate civilian and military investigations into the plan, though.

Gen. Berk is the highest-ranking member of the military who is indicted in a coup trial. He is the commander of the 3rd Army and seeks to become the head of the Gendarmerie General Command. In a civilian probe into a suspected military coup plot, titled the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, the general is accused of working to put the plan into operation in the eastern province of Erzincan.

Gen. Olcan is the highest-ranking military officer to be arrested on coup charges. He is accused of working in line with the Sledgehammer coup plan. He was released from prison pending trial for health reasons. Gen. Berk was recently interrogated by civilian prosecutors in the Sledgehammer probe. Similarly, Gen. Balabanlı testified as part of the Sledgehammer probe as a suspect.

Vice Adm. Sağdıç is believed to be the “number two man” behind an alleged Naval Forces Command plan called the Cage Operation Action Plan. The plan aimed to undermine the AK Party by assassinating prominent non-Muslim figures in Turkey and putting the blame for the killings on the party. Rear Adm. İlğar is believed to be the “number three man” behind the same plot.

Gen. Kaya is better known for his scandalous remarks related to the killings of several young soldiers in Turkey's eastern parts. In late June he said security cameras captured images of individuals approaching the Şemdinli border unit but that at the time they believed they were either shepherds or smugglers. However, they were the terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who killed 11 soldiers in an armed attack. The general had made similar controversial remarks last year after the deaths of seven soldiers in Çukurca due to a land mine blast on May 27. “It is not important at all. We are fighting for our lives. A few simple mistakes can be made,” he was quoted as saying in a voice recording.