Turkish Armed Forces says it holds respect for law while following cases

While conducting their missions, the TSK is supposed to base all of their actions on the rule of law and democracy, the General Staff said in a written statement posted on its official webpage on April 13.

In this scope, regarding the ongoing investigations and prosecutions on both retired and active TSK personnel, like always, there is respect and sensitivity both towards the rule of law and the freedom of jurisdiction, the statement said, adding the General Staff has been continuing its efforts to protect its personnel’s rights in the eyes of the law. 

Hundreds of both retired and active military officers, including high-ranking commanders, have been tried and imprisoned in controversial coup plot cases such as Ergenekon, Balyoz (Sledgehammer) and the Feb. 28, 1997, military memorandum.

Earlier in April, a Turkish court acquitted the last 62 military officers jailed over the alleged 2003 plot to oust then-prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, after the judge ruled some of the digital evidence as inadmissible. 

In 2012, a court had sentenced the officers to jail over the alleged conspiracy which happened in 2003, just a year after the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. 

Before that ruling, the court had acquitted 236 other officers in connection with the alleged plot. Both trials were launched after the constitutional court ordered a retrial a year ago.