Turkey's military chiefs resign

ANKARA, Turkey — The chiefs of staff of Turkey's military stepped down Friday as tensions dramatically increased over the arrest of dozens of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

The resignation of so many top commanders for the first time ever in Turkey signals a deep rift with the government, which has been confident in confronting a military that once held sway over Turkish political life. The arrests of high-ranking military officers would once have been unimaginable.

The resignations of Turkey's top general, Isik Kosaner, along with the country's navy, army and air force commanders, came hours after a court charged 22 suspects, including several generals and officers, with carrying out an Internet campaign to undermine the government. The commanders asked to be retired, the state-run Anatolia news agency said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Gen. Necdet Ozel, the commander of the gendarme forces – the highest-ranking commander who remained in office. Ozel was widely expected to become the next head of the military and Kosaner's resignation might speed up the process.

Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim said "the state would continue to function," in the first reaction by the government.

However, CNN Turk also quoted the prime minister's office as saying the generals were not resigning but going into retirement. State-run Anatolian news agency reported Gen Kosaner as resigning "as he saw it as necessary".

The Turkish lira weakened sharply on the news to 1.6964 against the dollar from an interbank close of 1.6805 today.

The supreme military council is due to hold a major meeting next week to discuss key appointments and president Abdullah Gul and Mr Erdogan met Gen Kosaner today to discuss the matter.

Friction between the government and military has been fuelled by an ongoing trial targeting dozens of senior military officers accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

The "sledgehammer" case, arising from an alleged coup plan presented at an army seminar in 2003, is one of several setting Turkey's secularist establishment against Mr Erdogan's ruling AK party, which critics suspect of having a secret Islamist agenda.

The AK party denies this.