Almost 1,700 military personnel received dishonourable discharges over their alleged role in the July 15-16 putsch, including around 40 per cent of Turkey’s admirals and generals. Turkish authorities were expected to announce details of the changes later on Thursday.
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The top USA military commander for the Middle East says he’s concerned the failed coup in Turkey may have longer term effects on the fight against Islamic State militants in the region.
Erdogan, who survived the biggest threat to his 13-year domination of the country when supporters countered the plotters on the streets, has blamed the attempted overthrow on US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Arrest warrants were issued for 89 journalists and dozens of media organizations were ordered shuttered.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag repeated Ankara’s request to the United States to swiftly extradite Gulen, once a powerful ally of Erdogan.
“Some judges and prosecutors with ties to the Gulen movement have fled to Germany. Germany must return them”, Cavusoglu said.
Bozdag said Turkey was receiving intelligence that Gulen might flee, possibly to Australia, Mexico, Canada, South Africa or Egypt. Egypt said it had not received an asylum request.
“Turkey of course …sits on an extraordinarily important seam between the central region and Europe”, Votel said at the Aspen Security Forum. “And my concern arises from the fact (authorities) are moving very hard and this principle of proportionality is perhaps not always at the center”.
Yildirim accompanied senior military officers to pay respects at Ataturk’s mausoleum in Ankara ahead of the meeting.
“There is no doubt that we will eradicate all terrorist organizations threatening our state, our nation and our territorial integrity”, Yildirim said, reading from a message he wrote in the mausoleum visitors’ book.
Just hours before the YAS meeting, two high-ranking Turkish officers handed in their resignations in protest against the government’s ongoing dismissals in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt, sources told Al Jazeera.
In a symbol of the military’s waning power, the meeting was held at the Cankaya Palace, the prime minister’s official residence in Ankara and not, as is customary, at military headquarters.
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Late Wednesday, the government issued a decree that removed the paramilitary police force and the coast guard from military command and placed them under the control of the Interior Ministry. Of those, more than 8,000 were formally arrested pending trial, it said.
