Turkey’s talk of pulling out of the Montreux Convention part diversion, part 'Ataturk envy'
It's unclear if talk of Turkey pulling out the 1936 maritime treaty will be followed by any action, but the discussion should not be taken lightly.
The furor raging around an April 4 statement issued by 104 retired Turkish admirals warning of the perils of Turkey’s withdrawal from a landmark maritime treaty shows no signs of abating, as Turkey’s ruling Islamist-Ultranationalist alliance continues to paint the affair as an attempted coup. Some 910 associations, 408 foundations, 27 universities, 114 professional chambers, 550 unions and 46 federations, presumably all pro-government, have filed criminal complaints against the former naval commanders.
Ten of the signatories of the open letter airing concerns over Turkey’s possible withdrawal from the 1936 Montreux Convention, which granted Turkey full sovereignty over the Bosporus and Dardanelles, remain in custody, as prosecutors investigate their possible links to “foreign powers.” The retired admirals are facing charges of conspiracy to commit “a crime against the security and constitutional order of the Turkish state.” They have already been stripped of their pension rights, free lodging and security detail.
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, a former chief of general staff who was targeted by the perpetrators of the failed 2016 coup, told a group of Turkish journalists, “Prosecutors will uncover the mechanism, who drafted the initial text, how it was circulated, who was behind it. Whatever the price, they will pay for it.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upped the ante April 7 in an address to lawmakers from his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), saying that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) was the mastermind of the alleged plot. “Sadly, the retired generals are taking their orders from their commander in chief, [CHP president Kemal] Kilicdaroglu,” he said, suggesting that Kilicdaroglu had supported the failed putsch attempt, without offering proof for either claim. His comments spurred fresh speculation that prosecutors, having initiated legal proceedings to ban the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party, would be training their guns on the CHP.
