%20(3).png){kind=small}
![TFD [LOGO] (10).png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/bea252_c1775b2fb69c4411abe5f0d27e15b130~mv2.png/v1/crop/x_150,y_143,w_1221,h_1193/fill/w_179,h_176,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/TFD%20%5BLOGO%5D%20(10).png)
TURKEY DETAINS 10 EX-ADMIRALS OVER STATEMENT ON SHIPPING TREATY
- By The Financial District
- Apr 6, 2021
- 2 min read
Turkey on Monday, April 5, 2021, detained 10 retired admirals after a group of more than 100 former top navy officers declared their commitment to an international shipping treaty, a statement that officials tied to Turkey’s history of military coups, Suzan Frazer reported for Associated Press (AP).
The retired admirals were held as part of an investigation into whether they had reached “an agreement with the aim of committing a crime against the security of the state and the constitutional order,” Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
The chief prosecutor in Ankara launched the investigation on Sunday. The statement was issued amid a debate over whether Erdogan, who withdrew Turkey from an international convention to protect women last month, could also pull the country out of the 1936 Montreux Convention, which regulates the passage through the straits, and other international treaties.
Erdogan’s plan to build an alternative waterway to the north of Istanbul that would bypass the Bosporus also sparked a debate over the Montreux treaty. “The fact that withdrawing from the Montreux Convention was opened to debate as part of talks on Canal Istanbul and the authority to exit from international treaties was met with concern,” the retired admirals said in their declaration.
Four other former navy officers were asked to report to authorities within three days but not detained because of their advanced ages, Anadolu reported. Authorities also stripped the suspects of their rights to government housing and bodyguards, the news agency said.
In his first comments on the declaration issued late Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the admirals of having ulterior motives, dismissing arguments that the former officers merely expressed an opinion.
“This act, which took place at midnight, is definitely an ill-intended attempt in its tone, its method and according to the debates it would clearly lead to,” Erdogan said. He spoke after summoning a meeting with the head of the intelligence agency, the chief of military staff, and some members of his Cabinet to discuss the admirals’ statement.
