Turkey appoints new armed forces chiefs

Turkey selected four new generals to lead its armed forces on Thursday in a shake-up seen as consolidating civilian control of the military after the previous four quit last week in protest at the jailing of officers in coup conspiracy cases. General Necdet Ozel, previously head of the paramilitary gendarmerie, was named as new chief of general staff for the second largest armed forces in Nato.
The shock departure last Friday of Ozel's predecessor Isik Kosaner and the heads of the ground forces, navy and air force, brought to the surface years of tension between the secularist military and a prime minister whose party emerged from a banned Islamist party more than a decade ago.
President Abdullah Gul approved the appointment of new army, navy and air force chiefs, presidential spokesman Ahmet Sever told reporters after a meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS). He subsequently signed a formal cabinet decision approving Ozel as the new armed forces chief.
Earlier Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan visited military headquarters to sign off on the promotions, seen as enabling him to tighten control over a military which once had the last word in Turkish politics but whose powers he had curbed while pushing through EU-backed reforms to strengthen democracy.
The new generals, too, may not love the AK Party, given the ingrained antipathy towards it in the military establishment. But Erdogan will make sure they will not turn a blind eye to any fellow officers running rogue operations against his government. Financial markets took little notice of the changes, their attention taken by a surprise interest rate cut by the central bank. Reaction to the appointments on Istanbul's streets showed both a continued high regard for the armed forces and concern about the consolidation of government power.
"I think the AK Party government is trying to take over the military," said 27-year-old auditor Cankan Guler. "The resignations have weakened the military, it seems to me like a bailout. They should have stayed and defended their stance," he said. "I think the military built up a reputation in the eyes of the public by resigning, their reactions have been appreciated by the people," said a bank employee, 38, who declined to give her name. None of the top appointments were major surprises but they indicated a measure of compromise.
Ozel had won a significant concession in extending for one year the duties of 14 generals currently jailed as part of the conspiracy investigations amid speculation they could be forced into retirement, analysts said. "It signals that he worked to protect the integrity of his peers and his colleagues," said Wolfango Piccoli, Europe director at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, adding it would be wrong to assume Ozel was pro-government. "He might be less political. Most probably he will take a more diplomatic approach but we cannot assume he is going to be in favour of the government," he said. The choice of General Hayri Kivrikoglu as head of the ground forces will have raised some eyebrows. When serving in northern Cyprus he refused to greet President Gul at the airport.