Turkey's staunchly secular military named a new head of the armed forces and army chief on Monday, ending days of uncertainty caused by allegations of plots to undermine Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's government.
Chairing a promotion panel dominated by military top brass last week, Erdogan had reportedly blocked the general in line to become army chief as he had been summoned by a state prosecutor to give testimony in a probe into an Internet campaign to discredit Erdogan's government and Islamic groups.
"We are not going to give the nod to everyone who comes our way," Erdogan told reporters on Sunday evening. "We used the authority at our disposal."
After sweeping to power in 2002, the ruling AK Party which its roots in political Islam, has clashed frequently with the military. This year's round of promotions had led to fresh tensions until a compromise was reached over the weekend.
A statement released by the military on Monday confirmed television news reports that General Isik Kosaner will take over as chief of staff of the armed forces when General Ilker Basbug retires at the end of August.
Kosaner will be succeeded by General Erdal Ceylanoglu as head of land forces.
The two top posts had been left pending at the end of the annual Supreme Military Council on August 4, due to an impasse over who would take over as army chief when Kosaner stepped up.
General Hasan Igsiz, commander of the prestigious First Army, had been tipped for the post.
But, with the council already in session, a state prosecutor issued a summons for 19 officers, including Igsiz, to answer questions in a probe into the anti-government slur campaign.
PROMOTIONS BLOCKED
Erdogan is disliked in the military because of his Islamist past, though the ruling AK Party, which has pushed for Turkey to join the European Union depicts itself as akin to Europe's conservative Christian Democrat parties.
The military sees itself as the guardian of secularism in Turkey, and has staged three coups between 1960 and 1980. It also forced an Islamist-led government to resign in 1997.
But reforms undertaken to bolster Turkey's bid for EU membership have curbed its powers.
In a separate investigation, prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 102 retired and serving officers in connection with a suspected coup plot in 2003 codenamed "Operation Sledgehammer".
Eleven of these had been up for promotion, but had their way blocked due to the accusations against them.
The lack of consensus between the government and the military, the second largest in NATO, was cited as one cause of weakness in Turkish markets last week.
Kosaner, regarded as a staunch secularist, has not commented publicly on the "Sledgehammer" case, and he will be under close scrutiny.
According to prosecutors, the "Sledgehammer" plot involved bombing mosques and triggering conflict with Greece in order to destabilise Erdogan's govenrment.
