(New York Times) Tim Arango and Ceylan Yeginsu - The Turkish military, the second largest in NATO, has a budget of $20 billion a year and an army of 500,000 soldiers. Authorities said this week that 1.5% of the army, or 8,600 soldiers, participated in the coup attempt, although it was not clear how many willingly took part. In its wake, nearly half of Turkey's top generals and admirals have been jailed or dismissed and thousands of soldiers charged. More than 1,500 officers were dishonorably discharged this week. "With its main pillar, the military, broken, the Turkish state will no longer be able to check a divided society or effectively counter security threats," said Halil Karaveli, a senior fellow at the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Studies Program. The Turkish military is a crucial ally in fighting terrorism, reining in the Islamic State, and in controlling the migrant tide that has overwhelmed Europe. Chaos within the military symbolizes not only its waning power in the country - and the rise of the police, which Erdogan built up as a bulwark to the military - but also its diminished reliability as a partner to the West. The commander of American forces in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph L. Votel, the head of the U.S. Central Command, said on Thursday that many senior Turkish officers whom the U.S. deals with on counterterrorism were now in limbo, and some were in jail.
2016-07-29 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive