General-Major dispute ends in dismissal from the TSK

The agenda is very busy, but for the sake of follow-up, let us share the latest developments on two topics we have written about before.

The first concerned the events between General D.A., who is the commander of a garrison and an important training center in one of our major provinces, and his subordinates. Let us briefly recall.

General D.A. first gave three penalties, two of which were written warnings, to First Lieutenant M.E., a station commander, on the grounds that some of his WhatsApp posts were directed at him personally. The justification for the penalty was that “even if the posts covered family matters, other meanings could be inferred” and that “the TSK could be harmed as an institution.”

The second accusation General D.A. leveled against M.E. was that when M.E. entered the barracks in his vehicle, he saluted but did not shout “sağol” (thank you/well done). For this reason, M.E. was given another separate reprimand.

While First Lieutenant M.E. and his lawyer İbrahim Yılmaz took these penalties to the Constitutional Court, they also applied to the Ministry of National Defense to have “General D.A.’s unlawful and arbitrary actions against personnel investigated, a disciplinary investigation conducted against him, and a judicial investigation launched for the crime of abuse of office,” and to CIMER and the TBMM Human Rights Commission for the follow-up of this.

As a result, the Ministry of National Defense found “no violation of legislation” in the actions and proceedings carried out by General D.A.

Before the repercussions of this were forgotten, a second incident, again centered on D.A., broke out. This time, the accused was Major E.Ş. General D.A. had a disciplinary investigation opened against E.Ş. due to some posts E.Ş. made without naming names, and also filed a criminal complaint with the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office alleging “threatening and insulting a superior.” While the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office prepared an indictment before the objection E.Ş. and his lawyer made to the investigation permit was even decided, the result of the disciplinary investigation was a request for E.Ş.’s dismissal from the TSK, and his file was sent to the Land Forces Command High Disciplinary Board. Meanwhile, Major E.Ş. also filed a complaint against General D.A. to a higher command, but no action was taken.

Along with the criminal complaint, General D.A. did something else interesting: he applied to the Family Court under the “Law on the Protection of Family and Prevention of Violence Against Women” and obtained a decision for Major E.Ş. to “not approach his residence, workplace, relatives, and children, and not disturb them via communication tools or in any other way” for a period of 2 months.

D.A. also requested that a “press/publication ban and confidentiality order be issued” for the criminal case opened against E.Ş. “due to the negative effects it would create in society because he is a general,” but this request was not accepted.

Stating that the first hearing of the case in question will be held today, let us come to the disciplinary investigation report prepared regarding Major E.Ş., who was referred to the Land Forces Command High Disciplinary Board with a request for dismissal from the TSK on the grounds of “committing the disciplinary offense of engaging in behavior that hinders service,” and the decision rendered as a result of this report.

THE INDICTMENT AS THE SOLE BASIS

Major E.Ş., who first submitted a written defense against the disciplinary investigation report, which appeared to be prepared entirely based on the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office’s indictment, stated that he did not accept the abstract allegations directed at him. He emphasized that the acceptance of the indictment was interpreted as the accusations against him being finalized, and that since this meant being considered guilty from the very beginning, it was a violation of the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial. While stating that it was unlawful for an indictment to be prepared and accepted against him before his objection to the investigation permit was concluded, he said, “If my objection is accepted, it will not be possible to investigate me, so the prepared indictment will have no importance.” Major E.Ş. also noted that when the complaint petition he previously filed against General D.A. is taken into account, it would be understood that the process was aimed at intimidating and wearing him down.

In his oral defense at the High Disciplinary Board, which convened on May 15, Major E.Ş. recounted one by one the events he claimed took place between him and General D.A., while his lawyer İbrahim Yılmaz alleged that E.Ş.’s digital devices were seized improperly and that there was a close relationship between the prosecutor who prepared the indictment and General D.A. Stating that he did not think any officer would make snide remarks on social media or have the time for it, Attorney Serdar Öztürk said, “An officer and a general have high character. You can criticize anyone. You do this by looking them in the eye,” and requested that Major E.Ş. not be punished.

However, the High Disciplinary Board unanimously decided to dismiss E.Ş. from the TSK. Land Forces Commander General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu approved this decision on May 30, and Minister of National Defense Yaşar Güler approved it on June 3.

ACQUITTAL IN THE MARCH OF RESPECT FOR MARTYRS

Let us come to the development in the case we reported in the article titled “Even the march of respect for martyrs was considered inciting the public to hatred and enmity” on April 14.

The subject of the case was some posts made on social media in August 2023 by 5 people who had no connection or link between them regarding Kirkuk, the earthquake in Hatay, and refugees.

The most striking part was that the march of respect organized for our martyrs from Ankara Güvenpark to Cebeci Martyrdom was also within the scope of the investigation.

The prosecutor prepared an indictment for the defendants to be punished for “publicly inciting the public to hatred and enmity in a chain manner” due to these posts. In the opinion on the merits he presented as a result of the trial, he again requested that the defendants be punished.

Fortunately, the court acquitted all of the defendants last week, and thus an absurdity such as “making nationalist posts,” let alone “organizing a march of respect for martyrs,” being considered a crime was reversed.

Müyesser YILDIZ

June 26, 2025