Erdogan told reporters after a rally in the central Turkish town of Afyon that a decree on the appointments would be submitted to President Abdullah Gul for his approval on Sunday.

Turkish financial markets weakened last week on concerns about political stability after the annual Supreme Military Council, chaired by Erdogan but dominated by generals, failed to fill the two top armed forces jobs after a four-day meeting that ended on Aug. 4.

The promotions process in the secular military was thrown into disarray by investigations into alleged plots by top-ranking officers to undermine the government.

“I think that we will make our proposal to our president this evening. Right now our preparations are almost completed. We are close to largely reaching an agreement,” Erdogan told reporters in comments broadcast by NTV.

Asked for the names of the appointments to the posts of chief of the general staff and head of the ground forces, Erdogan said they would be announced later. He last met with the outgoing Chief of the General Staff Ilker Basbug, who is retiring, at a midnight meeting on Friday.

Gen. Isik Kosaner, the current army head, was set to replace Basbug as the top general for NATO’s second-largest armed forces at the end of August. But his appointment was delayed by uncertainty over who will replace him as head of ground forces.

The general in line for the No. 2 post, Hasan Igsiz, commander of the prestigious First Army, was one of 19 officers summoned this week to testify in an inquiry into a campaign to discredit the AK Party and Islamic groups on the Internet.

That case is one of several criminal investigations into alleged military-linked schemes to force the ruling AK Party out. The military denies any involvement in such plots.

It staged three coups between 1960 and 1980 and in 1997 pressured an Islamist-led government to resign.

The army sees itself as the guardian of Muslim Turkey’s secular system, but the government has curbed its powers through reforms introduced to support Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.

Erdogan and several other AK Party leaders have pasts steeped in political Islam, and relations with the military have been tense ever since the party came to power in 2002. The AK Party denies a secret Islamist agenda.