BREAKING: Erdogan summons Cabinet after declaration by retire military officers

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan summoned his cabinet and top officials for an unscheduled meeting on Monday, after a group of retired navy admirals criticized the government’s stance on a key international convention in a move that was seen as a direct challenge to the Erdogan’s authority.

Turkish press reports more officers joined the declaration, some of whom may be still in active duty.  A prosecutor immediately launched an inquiry to investigate whether the declaration is an invitation to a coup. Turkish political parties are divided. AKP members strongly condemned the statement, while we are seeing a flood of support from opposition members. Still  searching whether AKP ally,  nationalist and traditionally strongly pro-army MHP will join the debate.
We don’t think the declaration(s) are a provocation for rebellion, but they will serve as a test case whether Erdogan intends to declare Martial Law or Emergency Rule using them as a pretext.

Published By: Atilla Yeşilada

GlobalSource Partners’ Turkey Country Analyst Atilla Yesilada is the country’s leading political analyst and commentator. He is known throughout the finance and political science world for his thorough and outspoken coverage of Turkey’s political and financial developments. In addition to his extensive writing schedule, he is often called upon to provide his political expertise on major radio and television channels. Based in Istanbul, Atilla is co-founder of the information platform Istanbul Analytics and is one of GlobalSource’s local partners in Turkey. In addition to his consulting work and speaking engagements throughout the US, Europe and the Middle East, he writes regular columns for Turkey’s leading financial websites VATAN and www.paraanaliz.com and has contributed to the financial daily Referans and the liberal daily Radikal.