Turkish ex-admirals arrested over criticism of Erdogan's 'crazy' canal scheme

[muriel_volestrangler]

Turkey has detained 10 retired admirals over their public criticism of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “crazy” Istanbul canal project, which will create a new waterway from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean in addition to the existing Bosphorus strait.

The arrest warrants issued on Monday came a day after a group of 104 former senior navy officials signed an open letter warning that the proposed canal could harm Turkish security by invalidating an 85-year-old international treaty designed to prevent militarisation of the Black Sea.

The statement criticising the plan was met with fury from Turkish officials, who interpreted it as a direct challenge from the military to the civilian government, “echoing coup times”.
...
To date, Turkish officials have insisted that the 1936 Montreux convention – which opened the Bosphorus to civilian shipping below a certain size and its Black Sea neighbours’ navies – will not apply to the new canal. In theory this means Turkey could in theory allow whatever vessels it likes passage to the Black Sea, including US warships, in effect militarising the Russian-dominated waters.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/05/turkish-ex-admirals-arrested-over-criticism-of-erdogans-crazy-canal-scheme

I can understand why it's seen as a way to militarize the Black Sea; and I can see that retired admirals should be able to criticize such a scheme (whether or not they're actually right) without detention or being accused of a coup.

[Ilsa]

1. K&R nt

[Karadeniz]

2. As someone who's lived in Turkey, I loathe Erdogan.