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A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted 103 retired admirals whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused last year of planning a “ Rebellion ”, state media announced.
From our correspondent in Istanbul, Anne Andlauer
The case dates back to early April 2021. In an open letter, 103 retired admirals expressed concern regarding the legal effects of a project by the Turkish president dubbed « Canal Istanbul ». This project, which Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been promoting for more than ten years, consists of digging a canal in the west of Istanbul, between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, to alleviate traffic on the Bosphorus Strait. The former soldiers feared that this channel would call into question the Montreux Convention of 1936, which enshrines Turkey’s sovereignty over these straits.
The prosecution is appealing
President Erdogan called the letter a “malicious”, “unacceptable” and denounced an attempt to political coup”. The Ankara prosecutor’s office immediately reacted, demanding up to twelve years in prison once morest the admirals, some of whom had been placed in police custody and then released. Justice finally considered, once morest the opinion of the president, that they had not committed a crime. The 103 admirals were therefore acquitted on Tuesday, December 20, however the prosecution appealed.
The Turkish power, which had several times cast doubt in recent years on the durability of the Montreux Convention, nevertheless invoked it from the start of the war in Ukraine to close its straits to the passage of warships.
►Also read: In Turkey, ten former admirals arrested following a letter once morest an Erdogan project
