ISTANBUL // Turkey was once proud of General Cevik Bir. After serving as the commander of UN troops in Somalia in the early 1990s, he rose to the post of deputy chief of Turkey's armed forces, before retiring in 1999.
But the four-star general has now become the latest high-level officer arrested over the so-called "postmodern coup" in 1997 when the secularist generals forced the Islamist-led government from power with threats and political pressure.
Following his arrest by police last Thursday and several days of questioning, a court on Sunday ordered Gen Bir, 73, to be detained until his trial.
Eight other former officers were detained with Gen Bir, news reports said. If convicted of an attempt to remove the government by force, the accused could face life in prison.
The arrests formed the latest move by Turkey's judiciary to investigate the once-powerful role of the armed forces, which long regarded itself as the final arbiter in the state.
The generals pushed four governments from office in 50 years and only five years ago threatened to unseat the current one. For decades, neither courts nor politicians or the media dared to question the military's position.
"It is a symbol," said Sehadet Citil, a member of the Young Civilians, a group campaigning against military influence on politics in Turkey.
"For democracy, it is a step that has long been overdue," she said yesterday about the general's detention.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, welcomed the arrests.
"Those who step on the nation's will are taken to account, even if 15 or 30 years pass before they are," Mr Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in the city of Tekirdag. "No one has special privileges before the law."
The balance of power in Turkey has shifted away from the military in recent years because of a strengthening of civilian institutions as part of Turkey's bid to join the European Union, and legal changes that abolished laws shielding the generals from prosecution.
This month the surviving two leaders of a coup in 1980 went on trial. Around 200 former and serving officers, including a former chief of general staff, have been standing trial for suspected involvement in coup plots directed against the Erdogan government.
Ms Citil said those developments meant that a new attempt by the military to push governments from power with our without force had become very unlikely.
"There has been a big change in Turkey," she said. "People don't want that kind of thing anymore. The coups have resulted in losses for Turkey, and people do not want that."
As deputy chief of general staff at the time, Gen Bir was one of the main players in the "postmodern coup" of 1997. In February that year, he gave orders for dozens of tanks and other armoured military vehicles to parade through Sincan, a suburb of the capital Ankara, in a show of force and intimidation, after a local leader of the then-ruling party, the Islamist Welfare Party (RP), had called for a "holy war".
Several weeks later, on February 28, the military forced Necmettin Erbakan, the RP prime minister, to sign a document promising reforms to counter a what the generals feared was an Islamist threat in the country. Following a suggestion by Gen Bir, the military set up a commission to monitor the implementation of the reforms.
According to news reports, the commission also spied on six million people in Turkey - almost 10 per cent of the population - because they were suspected of being Islamists.
Under heavy pressure from the military, Mr Erbakan's government resigned in June 1997, and the constitutional court banned the RP half a year later.
The "February 28 process", as the removal of Mr Erbakan is called in Turkey, was a demonstration of the military's political power over elected officials.
After the defeat of the Erbakan cabinet, Gen Bir summed up the triumph of the military over the government by declaring: "We have made a re-calibration." That phrase came back to haunt him when newspapers used it in headlines over reports about his arrest by police last week.
After a judge in Ankara ordered his detention on Sunday, the general was brought to prison in Sincan, the very neighbourhood that saw the tank parade in 1997. Prosecutors will now draw up an indictment before a date for trial is set.
Because Mr Erdogan and many of today's AKP politicians started their political careers under Mr Erbakan, the prime minister ousted in 1997, the opposition in Ankara accused the government of trying to settle accounts with the military by having Gen Bir arrested.
"You cannot look for justice with feelings of revenge," said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the opposition leader in Ankara.
tseibert@thenational.ae
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Overview
Cricket World Cup League Two: Nepal, Oman, United States tri-series, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu
Fixtures
Wednesday February 5, Oman v Nepal
Thursday, February 6, Oman v United States
Saturday, February 8, United States v Nepal
Sunday, February 9, Oman v Nepal
Tuesday, February 11, Oman v United States
Wednesday, February 12, United States v Nepal
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
MATCH INFO
Sheffield United 0 Wolves 2 (Jimenez 3', Saiss 6)
Man of the Match Romain Saiss (Wolves)
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Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale
Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni
Director: Amith Krishnan
Rating: 3.5/5
FIXTURES
New Zealand v France, second Test
Saturday, 12.35pm (UAE)
Auckland, New Zealand
South Africa v Wales
Sunday, 12.40am (UAE), San Juan, Argentina
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Barcelona v Liverpool, Wednesday, 11pm (UAE).
Second leg
Liverpool v Barcelona, Tuesday, May 7, 11pm
Games on BeIN Sports
German plea
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the German parliament that. Russia had erected a new wall across Europe.
"It's not a Berlin Wall -- it is a Wall in central Europe between freedom and bondage and this Wall is growing bigger with every bomb" dropped on Ukraine, Zelenskyy told MPs.
Mr Zelenskyy was applauded by MPs in the Bundestag as he addressed Chancellor Olaf Scholz directly.
"Dear Mr Scholz, tear down this Wall," he said, evoking US President Ronald Reagan's 1987 appeal to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate.
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
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The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
RESULTS
6.30pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (Dirt) 1.600m
Winner: Miller’s House, Richard Mullen (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Kanood, Adrie de Vries, Fawzi Nass.
7.50pm: Handicap (TB) Dh 82,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Gervais, Sandro Paiva, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
8.15pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 1,200m
Winner: Important Mission, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
8.50pm: The Entisar Listed (TB) Dh 132,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Firnas, Xavier Ziani, Salem bin Ghadayer.
9.25pm: Conditions (TB) Dh 120,000 (D) 1,400m
Winner: Zhou Storm, Connor Beasley, Ali Rashid Al Raihe.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20IPHONE%2014
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The drill
Recharge as needed, says Mat Dryden: “We try to make it a rule that every two to three months, even if it’s for four days, we get away, get some time together, recharge, refresh.” The couple take an hour a day to check into their businesses and that’s it.
Stick to the schedule, says Mike Addo: “We have an entire wall known as ‘The Lab,’ covered with colour-coded Post-it notes dedicated to our joint weekly planner, content board, marketing strategy, trends, ideas and upcoming meetings.”
Be a team, suggests Addo: “When training together, you have to trust in each other’s abilities. Otherwise working out together very quickly becomes one person training the other.”
Pull your weight, says Thuymi Do: “To do what we do, there definitely can be no lazy member of the team.”
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Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
- The introduction of tariffs could hinder the US's clean energy initiatives by raising input costs for materials like nickel
- US domestic suppliers might benefit from higher prices, but overall oil consumption is expected to decrease due to elevated costs
Disclaimer
Director: Alfonso Cuaron
Stars: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Lesley Manville
Rating: 4/5
NYBL PROFILE
Company name: Nybl
Date started: November 2018
Founder: Noor Alnahhas, Michael LeTan, Hafsa Yazdni, Sufyaan Abdul Haseeb, Waleed Rifaat, Mohammed Shono
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Software Technology / Artificial Intelligence
Initial investment: $500,000
Funding round: Series B (raising $5m)
Partners/Incubators: Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 4, Dubai Future Accelerators Cohort 6, AI Venture Labs Cohort 1, Microsoft Scale-up
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Dr Amal Khalid Alias revealed a recent case of a woman with daughters, who specifically wanted a boy.
A semen analysis of the father showed abnormal sperm so the couple required IVF.
Out of 21 eggs collected, six were unused leaving 15 suitable for IVF.
A specific procedure was used, called intracytoplasmic sperm injection where a single sperm cell is inserted into the egg.
On day three of the process, 14 embryos were biopsied for gender selection.
The next day, a pre-implantation genetic report revealed four normal male embryos, three female and seven abnormal samples.
Day five of the treatment saw two male embryos transferred to the patient.
The woman recorded a positive pregnancy test two weeks later.
