A large-scale cleansing of state structures in Turkey after the coup attempt is gaining momentum: the Turkish media reported that for today, about 9 thousand officers were dismissed, including one provincial governor and the 29 governors of central subordination (there are 81 governors in the country).
According to Anadolu, 8777 civil servants were dismissed by order of the Turkish Ministry of Internal Affairs. Among those removed from posts are 7899 police officers, 614 gendarmerie officers, 30 governors and 47 heads of municipalities.
As Vestnik Kavkaza previously reported, 103 generals and admirals were dismissed. Among them are the Air Force Brigadier Hakan Evrim and brother of the ruling AKP's Deputy Chairman Şaban Dişli, Major-general Mehmet Dişli. The Dean of the Istanbul Air force academy Colonel Ahmet Gumus was detained on suspicion of involvement in the coup. The Turkish attache was apprehended in the King Fahd International Airport in the Saudi Arabia. According to the Turkish media, 43 soldiers have already been arrested.
More than 6 thousand soldiers have been detained or arrested in the country during the weekend. 400 police officers were involved in an operation to detain seven coup plotters at the airbase in Konya. As many as 467 students and 20 officers of the military academy have been detained.
The chief military adviser of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Col. Ali Yazici, the former commander of Turkey's air force, member of the Turkish Supreme Military Council Akin Ozturk, as well as the commander of the Incirlik Air Base Gen. Bekir Ercan Van are among detained on suspicion of involvement in the coup.
In addition, the media reported that at least 10 members of Turkey's highest administrative court were detained, five of them were also members of the Supreme Judicial Council of the country. In general, the Turkish government has removed 2745 judges from duty.
Political scientist Tanju Tosun, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that many in the country now link the coup attempt with a large-scale cleansing in the security forces, which was expected on August 30.
"It will be known after the investigation, who exactly is behind the coup and whether foreign governments were involved in it, but if we make conclusions now, firstly, it is clear that a coup was organized with the participation of Fethullah Gulen's supporters, and secondly, it was due to the meeting of the Supreme military Council, which was scheduled for August 30. The fact is that there is information about dismissal of many admirals and generals associated with Gulen," Tosun explained, adding that the coup scenario clearly was prepared in advance.
The expert noted that the coup dealt a very heavy blow to the Turkish army. "The army has always been an elite in Turkey, but due to recent events its image has suffered irreparable damage - people immediately stood up against the rebels. One should not forget that a large part of different types of troops opposed the coup. I think after everything will settle down and the voltage gets stepped down, people's confidence in the army will be restored and they will not compare the coup plotters and those who defended democracy," Tanju Tosun hopes.
According to the expert, the scale of arrests shows how deep the penetration of Gülen's supporters into the Turkish state is. "The fact that so many people were arrested after the coup attempt at the same time testifies to the weakness of the Turkish intelligence services, but also it shows how many Gulenists secretly penetrated into the government agencies, including the military authorities," he concluded.
