Turkish Military Promotes 99 Colonels in Shake-up

Local Editor

Turkey's top military council promoted 99 colonels to the rank of general or admiral and put 48 generals into retirement in its annual shake-up, the military said Friday, although the top brass was little changed after this month's failed coup attempt.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the council's key decisions, leaving armed forces chief Hulusi Akar and the army, navy and air force commanders in their posts, Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin separately told reporters late Thursday.

The annual meeting of the Supreme Military Council - chaired by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and including the top brass - followed the dishonorable discharge of nearly 1,700 military personnel over their alleged roles in the abortive putsch on July 15-16.

Erdogan told Reuters in an interview last week that the military, NATO'S second biggest, needed "fresh blood".

A statement on the armed forces' website said that, alongside the promotion of 99 colonels, 16 generals and admirals were promoted and the terms of 20 generals and admirals were extended by a year.

However, the statement made no reference to the coup.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team