Outgoing Military Chief basbug pays farewell visit to PM Erdogan

Outgoing Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, who will retire at the end of this month, paid a farewell visit to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday. Erdogan received Gen. Basbug at the Prime Ministry for nearly two hours, the longest farewell visit yet by a military chief to Erdogan. For their respective farewell visits, Erdogan had met with former Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit and former Chief of General Staff Gen. Hilmi Ozkok for less than one hour each. Basbug will be replaced by Land Forces Commander Gen. Isik Kosaner. Yesterday also saw a ceremony for the handing over of the post of 1st Army Corps commander from Gen. Hasan Igsiz to Gen. Hayri Kivrikoglu, a former Aegean Army commander.