The last 10 years have been a struggle for survival for the Turkish navy. Many senior naval officers, including admirals, have been detained and imprisoned on a variety of charges. Purge-like arrests of naval personnel started with the so-called Sledgehammer case at the beginning of 2010, which saw 13 serving admirals detained and forcibly retired. In the Sledgehammer case, 365 military personnel, 250 of whom were detained, were put on trial. The case concluded with the sentencing of the navy officers, including 25 admirals who are now retired, to 12-20 years in prison. The Sledgehammer trials were followed by the Poyrazkoy case mid-2010.

Five more naval officers were arrested on charges of buried weapons discovered at Poyrazkoy, which was followed by arrests of 17 senior officers on charges of “an assassination attempt against the commander of the navy.” The indictment included a charge that a bomb would be set off on a submarine that was on exhibit at the Istanbul Koc Museum, to create chaos, and 33 senior officers were detained on these charges. Subsequently, 10 naval officers of the Golcuk Fleet Command Intelligence Unit were brought to court on charges of incriminating documents discovered. Finally, 56 naval personnel were tried on charges of prostitution and spying in Izmir.

Of about 3,500 Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) military personnel brought before a judge in the last 10 years, 1,857 of them — more than 50% — were naval personnel. Of 50 admirals serving at the Naval Forces Headquarters, 15 were arrested after the trials and all were forced to retire, and of 750 colonels about 120 met the same fate. The total number of soldiers detained in these proceedings — 3,500 in all — constituted about 10% of the entire officer cadre of the TSK.

Why was the Turkish navy the prime target of this massive purge?