Turkish army generals sue Islamist writer

In a collective application, 312 generals – among them the heads of the land and air forces, the navy and paramilitary forces – demanded 624 billion Turkish lira from Asim Yenihaber and the Vakit newspaper for which he writes. “No one has the right to comment in such a degrading and belittling way about the high-ranking commanders of the Turkish armed forces,” the plaintiffs said.

According to excerpts from the August 25 article quoted in the application, Yenihaber wrote: “There is nothing to show that they are generals apart from the stars on their shoulders.” He also allegedly said: “There is no place for them neither in the army, nor in this country … They will be powerless in the face of a real enemy, they will be swept away.”

Turkey’s Islamists and the powerful army, the self-declared guardians of the Muslim nation’s secular system, have been arch-enemies for decades. —AFP