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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey's Jailed ex-Army Chief Blasts 'Disloyal' Comrades |
| 2014-01-04 |
| [An Nahar] Turkey's former army chief Ilker Basbug, the highest-ranking defendant convicted in a mass trial over an alleged coup plot, has fiercely criticized his comrades for showing a lack of loyalty and support. In his book "Suclamalara Karsi Gercekler" (Accusations Against Truth), Basbug gives an account of his two years in detention, as well as his frustration after he was jugged Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! for life in August last year convicted of plotting to overthrow the government. "Leading and running a terrorist organization! Let me be clear, my world turned black after I heard the charges," he wrote. The 71-year-old decorated general accuses the judiciary of an unfair decision, and lashes out at politicians for acting as mere bystanders, and the media for hesitating to seek the truth. But his major disappointment was the lack of solidarity from an institution he had served for 48 years before retiring in August 2010. "The Turkish Armed Forces, with its active and retired officers, failed by showing disloyalty to their comrades," he wrote. Basbug, who led the army from 2008 to 2010, was the most senior officer in a crowded dock convicted of involvement in a shadowy group dubbed "Ergenekon", accused of instigating an armed uprising against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Islamic-leaning government, which came to power in 2002. |
| Posted by:Fred |