Current Turkish Defense Minister Linked to Controversial Killings of Civilians

The former chief of the Turkish General Staff, General Yaşar Güler, who was appointed as the Defense Minister by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, is among several generals linked to a number of controversial incidents involving military personnel, Nordic Monitor reports.

It is noted that on December 28, 2011, a group of smugglers who crossed into Turkey's southeastern Şırnak province's Uludere district were mistakenly identified as members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and were bombed by F-16 fighter jets, resulting in the deaths of 34 people, including 17 teenagers.

According to a report compiled by the military prosecutor's office in 2014, at that time, Lieutenant General Güler went to the command center of the General Staff, viewed the footage sent by drones, and stated that, in his assessment, the air operation would be appropriate.

According to Turkish media reports, some officers at the center informed Güler that the suspects were likely smugglers; however, Güler refused to listen to them. In a statement to the military prosecutor's office in 2013, Güler claimed he made such a decision based on credible intelligence regarding the activities of senior PKK commanders in the region, citing the Turkish MİT intelligence agency.

Later, the Diyarbakır prosecutor's office announced that there was a lack of jurisdiction in the incident and decided not to pursue criminal charges. Güler's name also emerged in an audio recording that surfaced in 2014. It was reported that then-Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, Deputy Foreign Minister Feridun Sinirlioğlu, former MİT Deputy Undersecretary Hakan Fidan, and Deputy Chief of the General Staff, General Güler discussed military operations in Syria in Davutoğlu's office on March 13, 2013.

In the recording, Güler stated that the efforts of MİT to send weapons and ammunition to anti-government groups in Syria should be supported.

According to some claims, during the failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, senior generals, including then Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar and Yaşar Güler, actually worked with the head of Turkish intelligence Fidan and President Erdoğan to stage a false coup, aiming to create a pretext for mass purges of officers.

The failed coup helped Erdoğan remove NATO-aligned officers from the military, including about 70 percent of all generals and admirals, who were replaced by Islamists and neo-nationalists hostile to the alliance.