"The right thing should have been to invite the ex-generals to the security department instead of detaining them in such a manner. Top commanders should have reacted sharply to the way they were detained as did a top businessman in reaction to a detention of his colleague," said a retired colonel, speaking to Today's Zaman. The Turkish authorities detained 21 people early in the morning of July 1, including three former generals as well as businessmen, academics and journalists, over the alleged planning of a coup. Those detained included retired Gen. Şener Eruygur, the former commander of the Gendarmerie General Command and the head of the Atatürkist Thought Association (ADD), and retired Gen. Hursit Tolon, former commander of the 1st Army.

The Office of the Chief of General Staff, meanwhile, stated on July 2 that the detentions of top generals and searches made at their military lodgings were conducted by military authorities upon a request from and with the participation of public prosecutors in line with the Turkish Penal Code (TCK).

Gen. İlker Başbuğ, the Land Forces commander -- expected to become the new chief of general staff during the August meetings of the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) -- denied press reports on July 2 that he was informed about the latest detentions of ex-senior generals during a surprise meeting with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan last week. He, however, did not make any comment on the detention of former generals.

"TSK members expected him to make some remarks of disapproval over the way the ex- generals were detained, but he did not. We are not happy about it," said a retired colonel.

He recalled the reaction of Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, head of the powerful Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchange (TOBB) on July 3, strongly criticizing the detention of Sinan Aygün, head of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) over charges of connections with Ergenekon.

The retired colonel linked what he termed the indifference of Başbuğ to the way former commanders were detained to the fact that Başbuğ would stay in office for two years instead of four due to the fact he will reach the retirement age of 67 once he becomes the new chief of general staff.

Current Chief of General Staff Gen. Yaşar Büyükanıt is also about to reach retirement age after serving two years in office.

"Because one stayed and the other is going to stay for two years, both Büyükanıt and Başbuğ have preferred to be more compromising with the government. If they knew that they were going to stay for four years, I am sure their attitude would have been different to the government practices in general and to the latest detentions in particular. They could have stopped their detentions," said a retired general, speaking to Today's Zaman.

According to this general, the government has deliberately chosen this two-year system to ensure a compromise with the top commanders.

Since the prime minister and the president have the authority to extend the term of the duty of the chiefs of general staff in line with the Constitution, they could have used this power by extending their term of duty for another two years, he stated.

Despite uneasiness within the TSK over the detention of former senior generals, there has been ongoing speculation over their alleged activities to topple the government.

Retired Gen. Eruygur's ADD helped in calling millions of Turks to the streets to protest the election of former Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül as president last year.

He was also implicated in an incident involving the alleged diaries of the former Naval Forces commander, retired Adm. Özden Örnek, published in late March last year by the now-closed weekly Nokta magazine, as the mastermind of a coup attempt codenamed "Ayışığı."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on July 1 that the detentions were linked to the investigation into Ergenekon -- a hard-line secularist group suspected of planning bombings and assassinations to trigger a military takeover against the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which is facing a Constitutional Court case over charges of anti-secular activities. Predominantly Muslim Turkey is a secular nation according to its Constitution.

This is the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic that such high-level former military leaders have been detained on charges of planning a coup, Turkish military analysts have noted.

No purges during YAŞ, claim officers

Unlike the latest speculation in the press that there could be a clean-up operation within the TSK against those who might have been involved in alleged coup attempts said to be engineered by the detained ex-generals, some TSK members were confident that no such thing would happen.

On the contrary, around 20 to 30 officers alleged to have been involved in Islamic activities may be purged, claimed a retired colonel.

TSK's ongoing autonomous and monolithic structure has made it harder to understand and analyze the exact position of its members.

But the views of some members of the TSK that Today's Zaman interviewed appear to come close to the reality that even hawkish Gen. Büyükanit does not seem to have been satisfying them if the military fails to continue meddling openly in political life.

On the other hand, the TSK does not seem to have liked the idea of looking bad in the eyes of the public and thus allowed the legal authorities to detain its former senior generals, said a retired officer.

By preventing their detention, the TSK would have portrayed an image that it is opposed to the law. If an indictment fails to prove the alleged links of ex-generals with a coup attempt, then the TSK will be able to tell the public that it adhered to the law, embarrassing the government. If the indictment contains strong proof about their involvement with unlawful acts, then again the TSK will be able to tell the public that it has observed the law by allowing the detention of their former members," said the same source.

However, the TSK has a record of incidents in which it has not allowed its members to be tried or interrogated over different charges as well as making public comments over civilian court decisions.

For example, back in 2002, seven top former generals, including former Chief of General Staff Gen. Doğan Güreş, who was at the time a deputy, publicly criticized the jail sentence of Korkut Eken, a former TSK officer, over charges of forming a gang to commit crimes in the infamous Susurluk case.

Turkish bar associations accused the former generals of attempting to influence the judiciary and called for those generals to be tried in order to shed light on the Susurluk case. But this has never happened.

A fatal car accident in which a truck collided with a Mercedes in Turkey's town of Susurluk took place on Nov. 3, 1996, revealing state-mafia ties for the first time in Turkish history.

In another incident, for example, a colonel declined to appear before a parliamentary commission investigating the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink early last year.

But because the Ergenekon investigation has become highly sensationalized with the alleged links to some members of the TSK, top commanders of the Turkish military may have allowed the prosecutors to do their job this time -- instead of preventing them -- out of fear of a strong negative public reaction, stated a Western military official.

As a matter of fact, in the midst of the first wave of detentions early this year as part of the Ergenekon investigation, Gen. Büyükanıt said the TSK was not an organization that commits crimes.

"In every institution there are those involved in crimes, and they would be tried and punished if they committed the crime," he said on Jan. 29 of this year.

This statement of Gen. Büyükanıt might explain the permission given by the TSK for the recent detention of its former senior-level generals as an attempt to avoid a possible negative public reaction to the military.

TODAYSZAMAN