Some 221 retired Turkish military officers applied to court to testify as witnesses against Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar after the minister sued a lawmaker from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for accusing him of abandoning his colleagues during controversial trials.
Özgür Özel from the CHP said Akar, the former Chief of the General Staff, had not even bothered to visit his fellow officers in jail when they were charged with attempting to overthrow to government in what are known as the Ergenekon and Balyoz (Sledgehammer) trials.
Akar filed a legal complaint and demanded a 500,000-lira ($86,000) redress from Özel.
Özel told Sözcü newspaper that 221 retired army officers had applied to testify against Akar during the trial’s next hearing on Jan. 17.
He told the newspaper they had asked the court to select a few of the applicants to testify as witnesses because the total number was so high. The court rejected that request, while Akar’s lawyers said that those people could not act as witnesses in the trial as they held ill will toward the defence minister.
“Akar defends himself, saying he did not desert his friends, but he does not want the court to listen to those friends,” Özel said.
The Ergenekon case was one of a series of investigations that began in 2007 targeting high-ranking military personnel, politicians, journalists and civil society figures accused of forming an armed organised crime empire and using their influence to attempt to overthrow Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
More than 250 of 275 Ergenekon defendants, including former head of the military İlker Başbuğ, were sentenced in 2013, but their convictions were annulled in 2016, and a retrial began in 2017. A Turkish court acquitted all defendants this year in July.
More than 300 defendants of the Balyoz trials accused of plotting a military coup were acquitted in 2015.
Global News 
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