Turkish military council to appoint new top brass

The Turkish Supreme Military council, led by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, began a meeting on Monday on appointing new army officials after several top brass resigned last week in protest over the imprisonment of dozens of high-ranking military personnel. CNN-Turk said the meeting comprises 11 people instead of the traditional 16 members after the recent resignations of Turkish top military officials. On Friday, the head of Turkey's Chief of the General Staff, Gen. Isik Kosaner, as well as the heads of the ground, naval and air forces resigned as a sign of what is believed to be a protest against the imprisonment of over 40 current generals and admirals allegedly involved in the plot of the possible coup d'etat, known as "Sledgehammer." "Currently 250 military officials, including 173 active generals, admirals, officers and noncommissioned officers are behind bars without court decisions on their cases," Kosaner said in his farewell letter. "Their arrest contradicts universal legal norms and does not fit into the frameworks of law and justice." Turkish media say that there could be some unexpected appointments after the meeting. It could trigger the future resignations of other generals expecting promotions as the military wants to promote some of the jailed officers, but the government insists on their retirement.