MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-MILITARY Turkey's supreme military council convenes to name new Chief of General Staff

Record ID: 145249

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/TURKEY-MILITARY Turkey's supreme military council convenes to name new Chief of General Staff
  • Date: 3rd August 2015
  • Summary: ****WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF DAVUTOGLU AND COMMANDERS OBSERVING MINUTE'S SILENCE
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6BKT8PN9G3GOO34NB82HOP7CO
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Turkey's supreme military council began a two-day meeting in Ankara on Monday (August 3) at the start of a process to reshape the army's top brass.
    Incumbent Chief of General Staff Necdet Ozel will be retired after the meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, leading to a reshuffle among the top military ranks.
    Commander of Land Forces, General Hulusi Akar, is expected to replace Ozel.
    The decisions are expected to be approved by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday (August 5) before coming into effect.
    Before Monday's meeting, Davutoglu and the top military brass paid a visit to the mausoleum of Ataturk, credited as the founder of modern Turkey.
    Davutoglu said the country had a pivotal role to play in the region - and in the world.
    "We are making sincere efforts to achieve permanent peace and stability in the region as well as to strengthen democracy, law and justice in our country. The Turkish Republic is a country that has a unique place among the most powerful countries in the world. It has the power to thwart every threat against it and its people," he said.
    Long a reluctant member of the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, Turkey made a dramatic turnaround in recent weeks by granting the alliance access to its air bases and launching air raids against both the jihadist movement and the PKK.
    But the relapse into serious conflict between Turkey and the PKK has raised doubts about the future of NATO member Turkey's peace process with its Kurdish foes that started in 2012, after 28 years of bloodshed, but has recently stalled.
    The PKK, which Ankara and Washington deem a terrorist group, has recently targeted police officers in the southeast of Turkey and elsewhere. The PKK accuses the Islamist-rooted central government of covertly helping I.S. in Syria to the detriment of Syrian Kurds.
    Opposition politicians and critics accuse Erdogan of taking up the campaign against Islamic State as a political cover to clamp down on Kurds.
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