Ten were released on parole retired admirals in Turkey, who were arrested last week for criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plan to build the “Istanbul Canal”, Anadolu Agency reported today, APE reports.
The retired admirals were arrested on April 5 and released on parole last night, while they were also banned from leaving the country.
The same conditions were imposed on four other former admirals, against whom arrest warrants had been issued but were not arrested due to their advanced age.
The retirees belong to a group of 104 admirals, who signed an open letter explaining the dangers they say involve the Montreux Treaty, which secures the crossing of the Bosphorus, its plan Erdogan for the creation of the “Istanbul Canal”.
An investigation has been launched against them for “forming a gang with the aim of committing crimes against the security of the state and the constitutional order”.
“To come to this conclusion after a simple statement is a complete miscommunication (…) the text is perfectly clear, written with good intentions,” said retired Admiral Cem Gurdeniz after his release.
Gurdeniz is considered the “father” of the controversial “blue homeland” doctrine, which provides for Turkish rule in large parts of the eastern Mediterranean.
High-ranking Turkish officials had strongly criticized the admirals’ open letter.
The Istanbul Canal is the most ambitious of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s infrastructure projects (airports, bridges, roads and tunnels) in the last 18 years. The government claims that with this Canal, Istanbul will acquire a new “attraction”, while the pressure on the Bosphorus will be relaxed.
Opponents of the plan argue that, in addition to the environmental impact, the opening of the Canal would undermine the 1936 Montreux Treaty, which guarantees the free passage of ships through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, both in due course peace as well as in time of war.
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