Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Turkey has acknowledged that scores of pilots resigned from the Air Force in 2013.

The Defense Ministry has confirmed reports of a massive resignation at the Air Force. Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz said more than 100 pilots left the service in the space of a month in 2013.

“In January-February, during the retirement/resignation period for 2013, 110 pilot officers in total, 63 of whom being combat jet pilots, from the Air Forces Command applied for leaving the TSK [Turkish armed forces] through resignation,” Yilmaz said.

In a statement released on Aug. 1, Yilmaz, who took more than five months to reply to parliament, did not say why the pilots resigned. But parliamentary sources said the resignations were linked to the arrest and
detention of hundreds of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the
Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.

“The number of pilot generals who are under arrest in prison is 11,”
Yilmaz said.

The resignations marked another element in the tension between the
military and Erdogan. So far, more than 20 generals and admirals have been
prosecuted on charges of espionage and participating in a coup.

The defense minister’s statement was released as the Supreme Military
Council replaced virtually the entire military command. The General Staff
also reported the resignation of an air force general linked to the killing
of 34 civilians in an air strike in 2011 at Uludere near the border with
Iraq.

“Some news reports claimed that three generals from the Air Forces
Command resigned from their posts, and that their resignations were related
to the ongoing court cases concerning the Uludere incident,” the General
Staff said.

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