Erdogan seeking control of Turkish army

THE Turkish president has said he wants the armed forces and national intelligence agency brought under the control of the presidency as part of a major overhaul of the military in the wake of a failed coup, a parliamentary official said yesterday.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments emerged after a five-hour meeting of Turkey’s Supreme Military Council (YAS), chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, and the dishonourable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged role in the abortive coup on July 15 and 16.

The dishonourable discharges included around 40 per cent of Turkey’s admirals and generals.

Turkey accuses Fethullah Gulen, a US-based Islamic cleric, of plotting the coup and has suspended or placed un- der 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 down.

“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, meaning that Mr Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted AK Party would require the support of opposition parties in parliament, Turkish media said.

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 Mr Erdogan’s push for a new constitution centred on a strong executive presidency. Bekir Bozdag, Turkey’s justice minister, repeated Ankara’s request to the US to extradite Mr Gulen, He cited intelligence reports suggesting the preacher, 75, might flee his residence in rural Pennsylvania.

Mr Gulen has criticised the coup and denies any involvement.

Mevlut Cavusoglu, a Turkish foreign minister, said more than 300 personnel in his ministry had links to Mr Gulen and that it had dismissed 88 employees. The government said on Wednesday that it had ordered the closure of three news agencies, 16 television channels, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines and 29 publishers.

Western governments and human rights groups have expressed disquiet over the scale and depth of the purges, with German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday urging Mr Erdogan to follow a “principle of proportionality”.