Yet the chief of the general staff, General Ilker Basbug, broadly supports the government's softer Kurdish policy.

ECONOMIST: Turkey and the Kurds

This week a former chief of general staff, Ilker Basbug, was called in for interrogation over the affair.

ECONOMIST: Turkey and the Kurds

Nowadays, even Turkey's chief of the general staff, Ilker Basbug, admits that military might alone will not fix Turkey's Kurdish problem.

ECONOMIST: Iraq's Kurds and Turkey

This week General Ilker Basbug, the chief of the general staff, admitted that the raids on the Special Forces Command were carried out within the law.

ECONOMIST: Turkey and its generals

Ilker Basbug reportedly told the audience of dignitaries in Washington this week that the ongoing presence of PKK rebels in Northern Iraq continues to have a negative impact on Turkish-U.S. relations.

CNN: Analysis: Does Obama diplomacy work?

There is talk of his having struck a deal with Turkey's new, hardline chief of staff, Ilker Basbug, according to which Mr Erdogan has promised to freeze reforms that dilute the army's power in exchange for his party's not being attacked in court again.

ECONOMIST: Turkey