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Erdoğan promotes wife of officer who sparked war of words during election campaign

This handout picture taken and released by the Turkish Presidential Press Service on April 1, 2018 in Hatay shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wearing a military camouflage uniform (L) shaking hands with Turkish Second Army Commander, Ismail Metin Temel (R) as Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, Hulusi Akar (C) looks on during Erdogan's visit to border units in Turkey's Hatay province. / AFP PHOTO / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / KAYHAN OZER /

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has promoted to a post on the Supreme Court of Appeals Judge Ferhan Temel, whose husband, Second Army Commander Lt. Gen. İsmail Metin Temel, had caused a war of words between Erdoğan and his rival Muharrem İnce during the presidential election campaign, the OdaTV news website reported on Tuesday.

Lt. Gen. Temel was seen in video footage applauding a speech by President Erdoğan targeting İnce on June 3.

“I will strip his epaulettes off. Are you a general of the Turkish military or a provincial head of the AKP [Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party]? Everyone should know their limits,” İnce said in reaction to the footage, which had gone viral on the Internet.

“People will never give you the opportunity to strip the epaulettes off our general [Temel] but will bury you at the ballot box so you won’t dare compete for the chairmanship of the CHP that you so badly want,” Erdoğan fired back at İnce during a rally.

The two made several other statements about the commander’s applause at various rallies.

Erdoğan also stated that he had developed a close relationship with Lt. Gen. Temel after he conducted the Afrin military offensive in northern Syria against Kurdish militants.

Last week during a TV appearance İnce said he had unnecessarily prolonged the “epaulettes rhetoric” with Erdoğan.

Ferhan Temel graduated from Ankara Law School in 1984 and since then has had several posts in the Turkish judiciary.

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