Turkey’s defense minister and senior military commanders have filed lawsuits against the main opposition leader, accusing him of making defamatory remarks about the military leadership.
The lawsuits, announced by the defense ministry on Thursday, came after Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Özgür Özel accused military leaders of orchestrating the dismissal of five lieutenants who chanted a secularist slogan in an unauthorized oath ceremony after their graduation on August 30.
The lawsuits, seeking non-pecuniary damages, were filed by Defense Minister Yaşar Güler, Chief of General Staff Gen. Metin Gürak, Land Forces Commander Gen. Selçuk Bayraktaroğlu and Naval Forces Commander Adm. Ercüment Tatlıoğlu.
Özel, speaking at a CHP parliamentary group meeting last month, had accused Gen. Bayraktaroğlu and Adm. Tatlıoğlu of pressuring the Supreme Disciplinary Board to expel the five lieutenants. He claimed that now-retired Lt. Gen. Tevfik Algan, the chairman of the board who opposed the dismissals, was forced out of his position in retaliation.
Addressing the commanders directly, Özel said, “I know what you did. Just as I once told [former defense minister] Hulusi Akar, I am telling you now: You are men who have earned the curses, not the blessings, of your comrades.” He also accused the military leadership of engaging in behind-the-scenes power struggles, stating, “I know who wants to replace whom in the Naval Forces, who has been plotting against whom, and how irregular warfare tactics were used to incite the expulsion of these lieutenants.”
The controversy stems from the immediate aftermath of the August 30 graduation ceremony for military cadets, in which a group of newly commissioned lieutenants performed an unauthorized oath ceremony that included a sword ritual and chanted, “We are Mustafa Kemal’s soldiers,” in reference to Turkey’s secularist founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The Supreme Disciplinary Board later expelled the five lieutenants, ruling that the ceremony constituted a violation of military discipline.
The government insists the expulsions were based on insubordination, while opposition leaders argue that the officers were dismissed for their secularist stance.
“We previously said that any statements targeting our commanders or the Ministry of Defense were unacceptable and that all legal rights would be exercised,” the ministry spokesman told Turkish media. “In this context, our land and naval forces commanders, the chief of general staff and our minister have each filed individual lawsuits for non-pecuniary damages.”
In a related development a Turkish court ruled Thursday that CHP leader Özel must pay 10,000 lira in damages to former defense minister and current parliamentary Defense Committee Chairman Hulusi Akar for remarks deemed defamatory.
The lawsuit stemmed from Özel’s comments in September 2024, where he accused Akar of being an “Islamist” and said, “We scratched away at Hulusi Akar like a lottery ticket, and all that was underneath was Islamism — nothing else.”
The court rejected Akar’s initial demand for 100,000 lira in damages but ruled that Özel’s remarks went beyond acceptable political criticism.
The legal action by the current defense minister and top military brass comes after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan warned the opposition leader against criticizing the military’s leadership.
“I am addressing you as the Commander-in-Chief: Watch your step, and if you don’t, we will make sure you do! You have no right to attack the command echelon of our military. Know your place,” Erdoğan said in a speech on February 26. He also confirmed that he had instructed the defense minister and military leaders to take legal action.