Gülenist generals report 'designed to influence retirement decision’

The sources also said the report came just before the YAŞ meeting where the retirement of army members are decided.

A pro-government newspaper’s report claiming that the Gülenists almost seized control of the Turkish army is aimed at influencing the upcoming decision of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), high-ranking military officers believe, according to daily Cumhuriyet.

“Many military officers have been sentenced to the jail terms in coup-plot cases such as ‘Balyoz’ [Sledgehammer], Ergenekon and the military espionage cases. However, these cases turned out to be plots against these officers and the government also agreed on that. All the charges started to be removed in time. Now, some want to remove certain people in the army who love their country and have no ties with the illegal organizations by using such reports,” said unnamed military sources, according to Cumhuriyet.

The sources also said the report came just before the YAŞ meeting where the retirement of army members are decided.

Daily Akşam’s June 28 story argued that pro-Gülen officers took control of the TSK’s top decision-making bodies and that 40 high-ranking generals were under the direct influence of what the government calls the “parallel state.”  

U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen is the leader of the movement, which is the ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) ally-turned-nemesis.

President Abdullah Gül, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) reacted angrily to Akşam’s article, with the latter arguing that the move aimed to tarnish the “institutional identity” of the military.

The first reaction to Akşam’s article, which headlined the paper’s June 27 edition, came from Gül, who issued a brief statement...

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