ANKARA - Head of the Turkish armed forces General Isik Kosaner, along with the country's navy, ground and air force commanders, stepped down on Friday due to a row with the government.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul named Gendarmerie Commander Gen. Necdet Ozel, the only remaining high-ranking officer, as the new commander-in-chief of land forces, and he will possibly be the new chief of general staff in the coming days.

The move came after a meeting attended by President Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan late Friday following the " state crisis," Turkish CNNTurk news channel reported.

Former Chief of General Staff Kosaner, who still had another two years in office, sent his letter of resignation to the prime minister's office on Friday, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Other top commanders stepped down hours after a prosecutor demanded the arrest of Commander of Aegean Army General Nusret Tasdeler.

The resignation of Kosaner and other commanders, of which the reason has not been declared, came ahead of a critical meeting of the Supreme Military Council, which is due in next week for the appointment of several new commanders.

The NTV news channel said the resignation is a reaction to the government, which has an obvious tension with the military over the new appointment.

The crisis came as a growing number of high-ranking military officers were arrested and accused of an alleged plot to overthrow the government in recent years. About 42 generals have been put behind bars pending a probe into the alleged "Sledghammer" and " Ergenekon" plans.

The alleged coup plans were against the ruling Justice of Development Party (AKP) by Turkey's secular nationalists, including some soldiers, academicians, journalists, politicians and representatives of civil society organizations that are also on trial on separate charges.

The Turkish army has been trying to get some of the serving officers promoted in the next Supreme Military Council despite their incarceration, while the government insists those military officials be retired.

Kosaner has met the president and the prime minister several times in recent days.

However, Gul rejected early Friday claims that his meetings with the prime minister and Kosaner was an indication of row before the military council meeting.

"These meetings are quite normal. When making such high-level decisions I need to know what I am going to put my signature on. No one signs no document with eyes closed," Gul told reporters before the commanders resigned.

Turkey has faced several military coups followed by periods of repression in 1960, 1971 and 1980. The army forced the resignation of the Islamist government in 1997.

It is not clear whether the military council's meeting will be took place as scheduled.