In an open letter, Turkish admirals warn Erdogan against building a canal that will run parallel to the Bosphorus. The President accuses the retired military of plotting a coup against him. But a court sees no evidence of a crime.
A Turkish court has acquitted 103 retired admirals whom President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused of preparing a "coup" last year. The court in Ankara saw no legal characteristics for a crime, as reported by the state news agency Anadolu. The retired admirals had been charged with "crimes against the security of the state and the constitutional order". They had signed an open letter in April 2021 endorsing a treaty to demilitarize the Black Sea.
Erdogan is planning the mammoth "Istanbul Canal" construction project. This should run parallel to the Bosphorus, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean Sea. The project started in June. In addition to environmental damage, critics of the Istanbul Canal fear above all that the billion-euro project could undermine the Montreux Treaty. The international shipping agreement of 1936 regulates the passage in the Bosphorus and in the Dardanelles. Among other things, it guarantees the passage of civilian ships in times of war and peace.
The admirals feared that a possible failure of the treaty could have negative repercussions on Turkey. Erdogan reacted irritably and accused them of threatening a "coup" against the country's elected government. Prosecutors had asked for prison sentences of up to 12 years.
Meanwhile, Sweden's refusal to extradite a journalist to Turkey has been harshly criticized by the Turkish government. "The rejection of our request for the extradition of Bülent Kenes is a very negative development," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists. Sweden's Supreme Court had refused to extradite the former editor-in-chief of the now-defunct newspaper "Today's Zaman" and pointed to the risk of "persecution by Turkey due to political convictions".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is demanding the extradition of dozens of people living in exile in Sweden, whom he accuses of having links to terrorism or involvement in the failed coup attempt in Turkey in 2016. Turkey ties its ratification of Sweden's NATO membership to this condition and is therefore currently blocking the application for membership.
