Istanbul (CNN) -- The top four Turkish military officials are leaving their posts, state-run media reported on Friday.
The departures stem from disagreements just before a meeting of Turkey's Supreme Military Council over the fate of officers who have been in jail for allegedly plotting to topple the ruling Justice and Development party.
The government wants active-duty officers who are defendants in the case to retire. The military says the people, some of whom are up for promotions, have not been proven guilty. So, they argue, they shouldn't be forced to leave.
Chief of Staff Gen. Isik Kosaner tendered his retirement letter to the prime minister, the country's state-run Anatolian News Agency reported.
The three others -- the heads of the land, sea and air forces under the command of Kosaner -- are also departing.
Land Forces commander Gen. Erdal Ceylanoglu, Navy commander Adm. Esref Ugur Yigit and Air Forces commander Gen. Hasan Aksay asked for their retirement as well.
Kosaner met earlier Friday with President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who won his third term in office last June in a landslide victory, a show of political power that has energized his base of support.
The resignations come ahead of a Supreme Military Council meeting Monday. It convenes twice a year and decides on promotions and dismissals.
About 200 soldiers, including senior ones, both retired and on active duty, are defendants in an ongoing court case about "Sledgehammer," an alleged coup plan said to have been cooked up at a meeting of military officers eight years ago.
There had been discussions between the government and the military with regard to the promotions of a number of generals and admirals who are currently involved in the case.
"It's unprecedented to have the chief of staff and three force commanders resigning en masse," said Bulent Aliriza, director and senior associate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Turkey Project.
"It's an expression of displeasure with the civilian government and frankly leaves in disarray the promotion process that was about to begin," he said. "This is their clearest possible response to Prime Minister Erdogan."
He said it comes at an important time, with the Turkish military fighting the Kurdistan Workers' Party in southeast, and the moves will create massive complications in the land forces.
Aliriza said the military establishment, according to its traditions, puts forth its own promotion recommendations, with the prime minister and the defense minister participating in what is a hybrid process.
Ultimately, they come to an agreement and the list is then put to the president for approval.
There have been tensions between the military, which has been supportive of the secular system over the years, and Erdogan's party, which has Islamist roots.
Accusations by Erdogan's government that military and secular figures were involved in coups have intensified hostilities.
Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish research program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a visiting professor at Georgetown University, wrote in an article for CNN's Global Public Square on Friday that the military "is snapping under the weight of the ruling Justice and Development Party," known as the AKP.
"Historically the most-respected institution in the country and the kingmaker in Ankara, the military has seen its prestige and power free-fall since the AKP took power in 2002," Cagaptay wrote.
"Coup allegations, including assertions that the military was planning to bomb Istanbul's historic mosques to precipitate a political crisis, have hurt the Turkish army's standing. The military's status as the most trusted institution in the country is plummeting: in 2002, around 90 percent of the Turks said they trusted their military, while now most polls show that barely 60 percent say they do."
He mentions another court case, known as Ergenekon, which also accuses the military of involvement in a coup plot: "For the first time in its life, the Turkish military is like a deer in headlights, facing the political high beams of the Ergenekon case."
"And now the military has snapped. The straw that broke the camel's back came earlier this week, when pro-AKP media suggested that 14 active duty generals and admirals who had been arrested in relationship to the Ergenekon case, though not yet indicted, would not only be bypassed in their promotions, but also forced to resign. Furthermore, only yesterday, the police arrested 22 additional top brass officers, blocking their likely promotion."
He said the "officer corps is demoralized" with generals and hundreds of other officers jailed with no indictments in sight.
"This is the Turkish military leadership's way of telling the government: 'We are done playing with you. Set up your own team -- if you can," he said.CNN's Yesim Comert is reporting from Istanbul, Turkey. Joe Sterling is reporting from Atlanta, Georgia.
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