Details of Turkish Navy Admiral’s resignation surface

ISTANBUL

Turkish Navy Adm. Nusret Güner

Investigations into unfair arrests, spying and blackmailing inside the Turkish Navy have led Navy Adm. Nusret Güner to resign, his wife has said, while some reports claimed that Güner and his family members were among the victims of a gang that collected information on several high-ranking soldiers for blackmailing.

Güner’s wife, Fatma Güner, said her husband met Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and expressed his annoyance with the ongoing investigations, yet “the problems were not solved.”

“My husband has gone to Ankara and held some talks. He decided to resign when he returned; apparently his meeting remained inconclusive. The pain of Navy personnel and what have been done to them are irreconcilable. My husband left the military because he could not stand these many tears. Hereafter, new operations might be on the way,” Fatma Güner told daily Sözcü Jan. 25.

“Our friends are being imprisoned one by one and we are not able to do anything; in fact, we are even helping them be jailed,” Güner was quoted as saying on Jan. 23 by Can Ataklı, a columnist for daily Vatan.

It has been revealed that Güner’s reported resignation came soon after an Istanbul court accepted an indictment regarding the case of an alleged espionage gang in İzmir.

Some 88 suspects are already under arrest, while over 50 officers on active duty have been included on the case’s list of suspects, charged with listening to private phone conversations, spying on officers’ bedrooms with cameras and blackmail. The alleged gang has also been accused of sending sex workers to officers’ homes.

Güner was among the complainants and a victim of the espionage practices, as a video camera was allegedly placed in his daughter A.G.’s room to blackmail him.

A document dated Sept. 6, 2010 reads, “Don’t forget that Nusret Paşa is very sensitive about his daughter,” and another document dated Jan. 12, 2012 states: “non-commissioned officer Mustafa Koç placed a secret video camera in A.G.’s room when he entered Nusret Paşa’s house. It has been very good. The video camera will be retrieved after a certain time.” A document dated April 4, 2011 read, “Mustafa Koç took away the video camera which he placed in A.G.’s room. There is some good footage that can be used. I am sending it in the attachment.”

The prosecutor demanded the imprisonment of Vice Adm. Veysel Kösele’s for up to six years in the indictment.

Güner was expected to be appointed Naval Forces Commander after Adm. Murat Bilgel, whose service will end in August. However, according to procedures, Bilgel’s post could be extended for one more year.