Turkish military to enlist 30,000 new personnel after purge

Amid criticism that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is pushing the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) away from NATO, Defense Minister Fikri Işık has said 30,000 new people will be enlisted in the TSK, the Star daily reported.

“This week 174 Air Forces Academy students started their education. We are continuing to conduct interviews. A total of 30,000 new people will be part of the TSK,” said Işık during a party meeting in Kocaeli on Saturday.

Although the Turkish military stated on July 27 that 8,651 military members including cadets and conscripts took part in a July 15 coup attempt, Minister Işık told the state-run Anadolu news agency on Dec. 11 that the government had dismissed a total of 22,085 militarypersonnel including high-ranking generals over alleged links with the Gülen movement.

Regulations that task retired officers and noncommissioned officers with recruiting cadets and military personnel went into effect last month amid debates that it was a gift to SADAT A.S. International Defense Consulting, which has also been called President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “secret army.”

According to new regulations based on state of emergency decree No: 678 issued on Nov. 22, 2016 by the AKP government, retired officers and noncommissioned officers are to be given the responsibilities of recruitment until Dec. 31, 2020.

“SADAT, which consists of retired military personnel who were called the AK militia and which was said to be responsible for civilian killings on July 15, now will officially be responsible for profiling and recruiting members. Moreover, they will