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Turkey culls nearly 1,400 from army, overhauls top military council
Turkish soldiers march during a Republic Day ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey, October 29, 2015. Turkey marks the 92nd anniversary of the Turkish Republic. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Murad Sezer
By Yesim Dikmen and Ayla Jean Yackley
31/07/2016
ANKARA/ISTANBUL, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey dismissed nearly 1,400 members of its armed forces and stacked the top military council with government ministers on Sunday, moves designed by President Tayyip Erdogan to put him in full control of the military after a failed coup.
The new wave of expulsions and the overhaul of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) were announced in the government's official gazette just hours after Erdogan said late on Saturday he planned to shut down existing military academies and put the armed forces under the command of the Defence Ministry.
According to the gazette, 1,389 military personnel were dismissed for suspected links to the Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Turkey of orchestrating the July 15-16 failed putsch. Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, has denied the charges and condemned the coup.
It comes after an announcement last week that more than 1,700 military personnel had been dishonourably discharged for their role in the putsch, which saw a faction of the armed forces commandeer tanks, helicopters and warplanes in an attempt to topple the government.
It was not immediately clear whether the dismissals referred to in Sunday's official gazette included any of those dishonourably discharged previously.
Erdogan has said 237 people were killed and more than 2,100 wounded in the coup attempt.
The government also said its deputy prime ministers and ministers of justice, the interior and foreign affairs would be appointed to YAS. The prime minister and defence minister were previously the only government representatives on the council.
They will replace a number of military commanders who have not been reappointed to the YAS, including the heads of the First, Second, and Third Armies, the Aegean Army and the head of the Gendarmerie security forces, which frequently battle Kurdish militants in the southeast. The changes appear to have given the government commanding control of the council.
Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death on the night of the coup, told Reuters in an interview on July 21 that the military, NATO's second-biggest, needed "fresh blood".
The dishonourable discharges previously announced included about 40 percent of Turkey's admirals and generals.
So far, more than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended or placed under investigation over suspected links with Gulen.
INCIRLIK SECURITY
Turkey's Western allies condemned the coup, but have also been rattled by the scale of the resulting crackdown.
The aggressive purges come when the military is stretched by heavy fighting with Kurdish insurgents in southeast Turkey and threats from Islamic State militants on its border with Syria.
Turkey's military is taking part in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Its Incirlik Air Base is used by coalition forces for missions against Islamic State.
Security was tight in the immediate area around Incirlik on Sunday, Turkish security sources said, before an expected visit by the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford.
While there were rumours on social media that security forces were at the ready on worries about another coup attempt, a U.S. military spokesman at the base said they had not seen an increased Turkish police presence.
"It's business as usual here," he said, without giving his name. "We are not seeing anything like that."
Incirlik has seen some scattered protests in the days since the coup as pro-government supporters have called on the United States to extradite Gulen. Washington says it will only do so if it receives clear evidence of Gulen's involvement in the coup.
Erdogan, meanwhile, has said it was "shameful" that Western countries showed more interest in the fate of the plotters than in standing with a fellow NATO member and has upbraided Western leaders for not visiting after the coup attempt.
Dunford's visit comes at a delicate time for Turkey's relations with the United States, given Erdogan's constant demands for Gulen's extradition.
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
On Saturday, Erdogan told broadcaster A Haber that the cleric was a "pawn" being controlled by a greater power.
"There is a mastermind behind him. That mastermind is the one who took him to the United States and who helped him avoid any judicial process."
Conspiracy theories have flourished in Turkey since the attempted coup, with one pro-government newspaper saying the putsch was financed by the CIA and directed by a retired U.S. army general using a cell phone in Afghanistan.
The United States has denied any involvement and any prior knowledge of the failed attempt to overthrow the government.
Rallies in support of Turkish democracy and against the coup plotters were planned in several European towns and cities on Sunday, with the biggest expected in the German city of Cologne. Turkish television showed demonstrators in Cologne waving flags and portraits of Erdogan.
Germany is home to Europe's largest ethnic Turkish diaspora.
Erdogan has said that Gulen harnessed his extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to create a "parallel state" that aimed to take over the country.
The government is now going after Gulen's network of schools and other institutions abroad. Since the coup, Somalia has shut two schools and a hospital believed to have links to Gulen, and other governments have received similar requests from Ankara, although not all have been willing to comply.
In an unexpected move, Erdogan has said that as a one-off gesture, he would drop all lawsuits filed against people for insulting him. He said the decision was triggered by feelings of "unity" against the coup attempt.
It could also be aimed at silencing his Western critics.
Prosecutors have opened more than 1,800 cases against people for insulting Erdogan since he became president in 2014 after serving as prime minister for 11 years. Those targeted include journalists, cartoonists and even children.
(Additional reporting by Gulsen Solaker in Ankara; Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul and Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Heavens)
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