EU-Conscious Turkey Prosecutes Ex-Navy Admiral

A former commander of Turkey’s navy appeared in a military court Tuesday to face charges of abuse of power and unlawfully accumulating wealth.

Adm. Ilhami Erdil, 66, is the highest-ranking Turkish officer to be prosecuted in decades. The trial opened days after the European Union agreed to launch accession talks late next year with this predominantly Muslim nation.

Turkey has been pressing ahead with reforms in a bid to persuade the EU to open its doors.

The measures include reining in the country’s powerful generals and making their financial dealings more transparent.

Turkish media reports and military sources said liberal armed forces chief Gen. Hilmi Ozkok, who firmly backs EU membership, authorized the inquiry that led to Erdil’s trial.

“This trial sends a very strong and very public signal that even the most senior generals will no longer be spared,” said Lale Sariibrahimoglu, a commentator on the Turkish military. “It’s a brand new page for the military.”

The presiding judge at Erdil’s trial rejected defense demands that the proceedings be closed to the media. And so, under the glare of dozens of TV cameras, Erdil spent seven hours testifying before a panel of judges, including two active-duty generals.

The retired admiral, who served as navy chief for three years starting in 1999, denied allegations that he had exerted pressure for a company headed by his daughter to win a multimillion-dollar contract to upgrade a naval base.

Erdil also denied claims that he had charged thousands of dollars worth of personal phone calls and grocery bills to the navy.

“Had I known I’d land in this situation I would have kept records of every [bottle of] water I drank ... every single roll of toilet paper I used,” he said.

Erdil said that in addition to his personal savings, he used gold given to his daughter as a wedding gift to help pay for two apartments worth more than $1 million. Failure to declare the properties in violation of military regulations reportedly triggered the investigation. He could face 18 years in prison if convicted.

In a related development Tuesday, the military authorized prosecutors to try 39 people, including four retired generals, on charges of receiving kickbacks and other irregularities in 87 military contracts.

Turkey’s fiercely secular military has seized power four times since 1960 and has been widely accused by the EU of rights abuses during a 15-year Kurdish insurgency that ended in 1999. But the military continues to top polls as the country’s most popular institution.

The current constitution, drawn up by the generals after their last coup in 1997, was crafted to shield them from scrutiny by civilian governments and criticism from Turkish citizens. Officers accused of corruption have been rarely prosecuted and even more rarely convicted.

But in the last two years, the military’s influence has waned in line with the effort to make Turkey eligible for EU membership. The National Security Council, long used by generals to dictate national and foreign policy, was stripped of its executive powers last year and brought under civilian control. As of next year, parliament will be able to question the military budget.

Education spending now exceeds defense spending. But the EU says further pruning of the military’s power is needed if Turkey is to be allowed to join.

An EU diplomat said the Defense Ministry still took orders from the armed forces, “when it should be the other way around.”