Five Turkish Army Generals Resign, Opposition Newspaper Reports

(Picture: Wikimedia Commons).

Five generals from the Turkish Army have handed in resignations in the wake of a military council meeting earlier this month, according to the opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet.

The Supreme Military Council (YAS), chaired by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, convened to discuss promotions, dismissals and placements of the high-ranking military personnel on 1 August.

The resignations by one Major General and four Brigadier Generals were submitted as a reaction to council decisions, the newspaper reported on Sunday.

The decisions were described by retired military officers as an attempt to make the Turkish army smaller, the unsourced Cumhuriyet report said.

There was no immediate comment from Turkey’s defence ministry.

Two of the generals were known to be the army officers responsible for Syria’s Idlib region where Turkey has a military presence, Cumhuriyet said.