Over 24,000 personnel dismissed from Turkish military since failed coup attempt

Some 24,256 personnel of the Turkish military have been dismissed from duty over suspected links to the Gülen network since the failed coup attempt of 2016, the Defense Ministry said.

Saturday December 25 2021 01:05 pm

Duvar English

The Turkish military has so far dismissed a total of 24,256 personnel from duty over charges of being linked to the Gülen network, which authorities refer to as the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Of this number, 150 were generals and 10,528 were commissioned officers, online news outlet T24 reported on Dec. 25, citing the Defense Ministry sources.

The administrative processes have been ongoing for another 1,185 military personnel.

The dismissals from the military continued after the lifting of the emergency rule in 2018. Since then, a total of 9,360 military personnel have been expelled from the army with the approval of Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

The total number of personnel employed by the Defense Ministry currently stands at 479,833 -- 440,293 of whom are military personnel.

A total of 11,475 students are currently attending the National Defense University -- a military university established in 2016.

Following the failed coup attempt of July 2016, which is widely believed to have been undertaken by the Gülen network, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency.

After prolonging the state of emergency seven times, Ankara ended the measure on July 18, 2018. The decision came after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) won the June 24, 2018 elections.

Under the two-year state of emergency, tens of thousands of people were arrested or dismissed from their jobs on grounds of their alleged involvement in the Gülen network.

After the formal end of the state of emergency, the government kept many emergency powers in place with a new, tougher anti-terror law.

The new anti-terror allows ministries to dismiss civil servants under conditions similar to the state of emergency if they are thought to be connected to terror groups.