Provocative claims will not affect members: Turkish Armed Forces

ISTANBUL

Photo by Turkish Armed Forces

The Turkish Armed Forces General Staff released a written statement today saying members of the army will not fall into the provocative traps set by "certain writers, speakers and members of certain occupations."

"It is being watched in sorrow that provocative statements outside constructive boundaries target members of the armed forces in order to reduce their motivation," the statement continued.

The armed forces claimed that some forms of recent criticism not only "exploited freedom of the press" but also "mocked in a low manner" important army personalities, including modern Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

The members of the army, however, will continue to serve the country, "tightly bound to the basic qualities of the Constitution and to the system of parliamentary democracy," the statement concluded.