Turkey military defends top general's attendance at Erdogan marriage

Ankara: Turkey's army on Monday vehemently defended the attendance of its top general at the wedding of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's younger daughter, after a storm of criticism in the opposition press and on social media.

General Hulusi Akar was one of several witnesses at Saturday's marriage of Sumeyye Erdogan to defence industrialist Selcuk Bayraktar, whose family company manufactures military drones.

Some commentators bitterly criticised the chief of the general staff's presence, which came a day after eight Turkish soldiers were killed in a single operation against Kurdish rebels.

In a highly unusual statement on the general's personal schedule, the army said he had taken part in the wedding in Istanbul "within the framework of state protocol", after earlier attending funeral ceremonies for the dead soldiers in Ankara.

It said some of the coverage of the wedding had been "far from humane and conscientious" and warned against the use of "divisive language" in the fight against the militants.

Some commentators also suggested it was inappropriate that Akar had shown his closeness to a company which produces equipment for the armed forces.

"He was a witness at Erdogan's daughter's wedding on the day eight martyrs were laid to rest," said the anti-government Soczu daily. "Fury is growing" with Akar, it said.

In an event of huge political symbolism, other witnesses at the marriage included outgoing Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and former president Abdullah Gul, both of whom have been rumoured to be at odds with Erdogan.

Foreign leaders including Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and former Lebanese premier Saad Hariri were also in attendance.

The army was historically considered a major force in Turkish politics, able to oust governments it believed were eroding the secular principles of the modern republic set up by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Erdogan, in power as premier and then president since 2003, clipped the wings of the military through a succession of legal cases to ensure its loyalty and most commentators see little risk of the coups that marked Turkish history in the last decades.