Prosecutor invites seven more retired soldiers to testify over Montreux declaration

ANKARA

An Ankara prosecutor has invited seven more former military officials to testify over a contentious declaration signed by 104 former admirals that urged the government to stick to the 1936-dated Montreux Convention and the secularism principle of the constitution.

Demirören News Agency reported on April 16 that the Ankara Chief Prosecutor took this action in line with the testimonies of 14 retired admirals who were detained and later released on probation last week.

According to the prosecutor’s notification, six former admiral and one former general will come to Ankara to testify in the next week. DHA said the police searched the houses of these admirals and seized their digital devices for examination.

The prosecutor’s office opened a probe on April 4 into the retired admirals on suspicion of an “agreement to commit a crime against the state’s security and constitutional order.” As a result of initial probe, 14 signatories of the declaration were detained. Some of the former admirals argued that the content of the declaration was later altered and they did not know that it would be released after midnight.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) officials slammed the declaration as a call for a military coup, while the opposition defended the admirals as using their freedom of expression.