ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – Turkish authorities detained 10 former admirals on Monday after a group of more than 100 retired high-ranking officers issued a statement saying government officials had linked the Turkish history of military coups.
The 10 retired admirals were detained as part of an investigation launched by the chief prosecutor in Ankara on Sunday on suspicion of reaching “an agreement to commit a crime against state security and constitutional order.” The state-run Anadolu Agency in Turkey reported.
Four others were not detained because of old age, but were asked to report to authorities within three days, Anadolu reported.
A total of 103 retired admirals signed the declaration declaring their commitment to an international treaty regulating maritime transport through the straits of the Bosporus and Dardanelles, which connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea. It is believed that the 14 suspects organized the statement.
The statement came amid a debate over whether Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who withdrew Turkey from an international convention for the protection of women last month, could pull the country out of the 1936 Montreux Treaty, which governs the passage through straits and other international treaties.
Erdogan’s plan to build an alternative waterway north of Istanbul to bypass the Bosphorus has also sparked a debate over the Montreux treaty.
“The fact that the withdrawal from the Montreux Convention has been opened for debate as part of the Istanbul Canal talks and the authority to withdraw from international treaties has been met with concern,” the retired admiral said in a statement released late Saturday.
The statement triggered a strong condemnation of ruling party and government officials, who drew a parallel with statements accompanying past military takeovers in Turkey.
Turkey staged coups in 1960, 1971 and 1980, and a 1997 military intervention led to the resignation of an Islamist-led coalition government. In 2016, a failed coup led to more than 250 deaths.
Anadolu reported that among those detained was Cem Gurdeniz, the name behind Turkey’s controversial “Blue Homeland” doctrine, which claims large sections of the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea and its undesirable energy deposits. The concept contradicts the claims of Greece and Cyprus in the region.
The suspects were detained at their homes in Ankara, Istanbul and Kocaeli and were to be questioned by the capital’s chief prosecutor’s office.