Turkish Military Faces Era-Defining Moment At Critical Meeting

One year after the 2016 coup, the Turkish government’s total control of the military was established at a critical meeting.

A botched coup on July 15, 2016, sent the Turkish military, once a formidable actor with a wide-range political sway, into an institutional tailspin. One year later, the army is still in disarray, with officers are in the grip of perpetual fear of purge.

As the annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council (YAS) in August took place on Wednesday, the officers’ corps feel the anguish of the uncertainty. A sense of dread and anxiety has dogged its members, with a new purge looming large given media reports about sprawling new lists. With the rank-and-file and senior leadership positions are up for grabs at the meeting that was expected to reshuffle the command structure, a shaky alliance between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and secular far-leftist politician Dogu Perincek who has avowed acolytes and loyal disciples within the General Staff and the army ranks shows signs of fracturing.

True to their expectations, commanders of forces changed. Commanders of Navy, Air Force, and Ground Forces were replaced with new ones in an era-defining meeting on Wednesday. The meeting was regarded as…