Erdogan wants to control military
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan wants the armed forces and national intelligence agency brought under the control of the presidency, a parliamentary official said yesterday, part of a major overhaul of the military after a failed coup.
Erdogan’s comments came after a five-hour meeting of Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS) – chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and including the top brass – and the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1700 military personnel over their alleged role in the abortive putsch on July 15-16.
After the meeting, Erdogan approved the council’s decisions to keep armed forces chief Hulusi Akar and the army, navy and air force commanders in their posts, making few changes to the top brass, Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin told reporters.
The dishonourable discharges included about 40 per cent of Turkey’s admirals and generals.
Turkey accuses United Statesbased Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen of masterminding the coup and has suspended or placed under investigation tens of thousands of his suspected followers, including soldiers, judges and academics.
In the aftermath of the coup, media outlets, schools and universities have been closed.
‘‘The president said that . . . he would discuss with opposition parties bringing the General Staff and the MIT [intelligence agency] under the control of the presidency,’’ the parliamentary official said.
Such a change would require a constitutional amendment, so Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party would require the support of opposition parties in parliament, Turkish media said.
Both the General Staff and MIT currently report to the prime minister’s office. Putting them under the president’s overall direction would be in line with Erdogan’s push for a new constitution centred on a strong executive presidency.
Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag repeated Ankara’s request to the US to swiftly extradite Gulen, once a powerful ally of Erdogan. He cited intelligence reports suggesting the 75-year-old preacher might flee his residence in rural Pennsylvania.
Gulen has condemned the coup and denies any involvement.
Separately, Turkey’s biggest petrochemicals company Petkim said its chief executive had resigned and the state-run news agency Anadolu said he had been detained in connection with the failed coup.
Anadolu also said Ankara prosecutors requested the seizure of the assets of 3049 judges and prosecutors detained as part of the investigation into the coup attempt.
Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the coup, in which at least 246 people were killed and more than 2000 injured.
But they have also expressed disquiet over the scale of the purges, fearing Erdogan may be using them to get rid of opponents and tighten his grip on power.
The government said on Thursday it had ordered the closure of three news agencies, 16 television channels, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines and 29 publishers.
This announcement followed the shutting down of other media outlets and detention of journalists with suspected Gulenist ties.
In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the US was ‘‘deeply concerned’’ about the reports of Turkish closure of news media outlets.