The military officer tipped to become Turkey’s most senior general later this year is at the centre of a political and legal storm over allegations that he tried to disrupt the country’s bid to join the European Union.

General Yasar Buyukanit, currently the commander of land forces, has not been charged with any crime. But a prosecutor investigating a bomb attack in Kurdish-dominated south-eastern Turkey last November has alleged that he obstructed justice by intervening on behalf of a soldier implicated in the attack.