Home > Current Affairs News > Army Commander Metin Tokel's effusive praise for Binali Yıldırım resurfaces: 'We are living this honour in our souls and in our very skin'

Army Commander Metin Tokel's effusive praise for Binali Yıldırım resurfaces: 'We are living this honour in our souls and in our very skin'

Words spoken in 2016 by Metin Tokel — appointed Army Commander following decisions taken at the Supreme Military Council — to then-Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım have once again become a talking point.

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The Supreme Military Council (YAŞ), convened under the chairmanship of AKP leader and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, determined the new command structure of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK).

In line with the decisions taken, Chief of the General Staff General Metin Gürak was retired due to the abolition of his post, while Army Commander General Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu was appointed in his place.

General Metin Tokel, commander of the 1st Army, was appointed as the new Army Commander.

TOKEL'S EFFUSIVE PRAISE FOR YILDIRIM

Metin Tokel's name had long been a subject of public debate due to remarks he made during Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım's visit to his division in 2016: "With your arrival here, we felt honoured — first and foremost myself as division commander. We are living this honour in our souls and in our very skin at this very moment."

During Binali Yıldırım's tenure as Prime Minister, Tokel had greeted him with the words:

"With your arrival here, we felt honoured — first and foremost myself as division commander.

We are living this honour in our souls and in our very skin at this very moment. Our comrades said that, even before you arrived, it was as if they had sensed you were coming — they expressed that they had kissed you with their eyes.

We felt honoured as a division commander. May God be pleased with you."