AKP members abandon complaint against Former army chief Başbuğ

ANKARA

Six members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), including Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ, abandoned their complaint in a lawsuit filed against former Chief of General Staff İlker Başbuğ over his remarks on FETÖ’s “political leg.”

In a televised interview in 2020, the former army chief accused the deputies of a law in 2009 that paved the way for civilian courts to try military personnel of being members of the FETÖ.

“Who prepared this bill? This is completely about FETÖ. It should be looked into,” Başbuğ said on Jan. 28, 2020.

Shortly after his remarks, six AKP members sued Başbuğ over his allegations of “slandering” and “insulting” and he was filed up to 4 years in prison for the crime.

“You should sue him to protect the law of parliament,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at the time.

Başbuğ, in his defense at the first hearing of the case in March, stated that he did not mean the names in question.

Ahead of the second hearing on Sept. 20, Bozdağ, along with AKP members Ahmet Aydın, Mustafa Elitaş, Abdurrahman Müfit Yetkin, Mehmet Ceylan and Yahya Doğan had withdrawn their complaint.

Their petition cited Başbuğ’s defense that he did not imply the names mentioned.

Başbuğ, Türkiye’s 26th Chief of General Staff was arrested on Jan. 5, 2012, on charges of being the leader of a terrorist organization aimed at toppling the democratically elected government.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment last year in the Ergenekon coup trial and spent 26 months in prison. He was released in 2014 after a local court overturned his conviction.