In addition to outlining an all-encompassing military reform significantly cutting the army’s ranks and abolishing all military schools, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is also proposing a decree that would put him directly in charge of intelligence and the general staff, RT reports.
In an interview broadcast by the Turkish TV channel A Haber on Saturday, Erdogan revealed that a decree is being prepared that would make Turkey’s armed forces directly subordinate to the country’s defense minister, while the chief of general staff and Turkey’s state spy agency, the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), would answer directly to the president.
“Our armed forces will be much stronger with the latest decree we are preparing,” Erdogan argued. He admitted that the night of the failed coup attempt had revealed “serious weakness of intelligence.”
In order for the decree to become law, Erdogan will have to gain the support of opposition parties in order to pass new constitutional amendments broadening his presidential power.
