31 July 2016•Update: 31 July 2016
ANKARA
Turkey has expelled another 1,389 military personnel from the army and taken counter-measures against Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) infiltration of the state, the state Official Gazette announced on Sunday, just weeks after the defeat of the July 15 attempted coup.
Under a statutory decree, seen as part of the Turkey's current three-month state of emergency, military personnel found to be national security threats as well as members of FETO, or linked to FETO, were expelled from the army.
The expelled personnel include Col. Ali Yazici, former aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Lt. Col. Levent Turkkan, former aide to Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar; and Col.Tevfik Gok, who served as the defense minister's executive assistant.
The new dismissals follow a previous post-coup expulsion of 1,684 military personnel, including 149 generals and admirals.
Under the decree, Turkey's land, naval, and air forces are now directly answerable to the Defense Ministry.
The decree also closes all of Turkey’s war academies, military high schools, and high schools that train non-commissioned officers, to be replaced by a new university called the National Defense University under the Defense Ministry.
The university will offer new institutions to train staff officers and give postgraduate education, including war academies and vocational schools that train non-commissioned officers.
In addition, the decree assigns Ankara's Gulhane Military Medical Academy and military hospitals across Turkey under the Health Ministry.
Turkey declared a state of emergency on July 20, just days after a group of rogue military officers were defeated in their July 15 coup attempt.
During a state of emergency, the Cabinet has the right to issue statutory decrees under the president of the republic without regard to routine procedures and restrictions in Article 91 of the Constitution. These decrees are first published in the Official Gazette and then submitted to parliament for ratification.
More than 230 people were killed and nearly 2,200 injured in the coup attempt, which Turkish officials have repeatedly said was carried out by the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), led by U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen.
