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AFP
ANKARA
TURKEY on Wednesday replaced the land, air and naval commanders of the military, in a major shake-up of the armed forces just over a year after a failed coup bid.
The decision from the nation's top armed forces body -- now dominated by ministers rather than the military -- marked another step in the growing control of the government over the once all-powerful Turkish armed forces.
The Supreme Military Council (YAS) decided to remove land forces commander General Salih Zeki Colak, naval chief Admiral Bulent Bostanoglu and air force commander General Abidin Unal, presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
Colak will be replaced by General Yasar Guler, currently head of the gendarmerie and former deputy chief of staff, Kalin told reporters in Ankara.
Bostanoglu will be replaced by Vice Admiral Adnan Ozbal and General Hasan Kucukakyuz would replace Unal as air force commander, he said.
Their new roles start on August 30, Kalin added. Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar is however to stay in his job.
Kalin, the presidential spokesman, did not elaborate on the reasoning for their exit, but thanked the men for their service.
The decision to replace the commanders also received the necessary go-ahead from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the spokesman said.
The council usually meets only once a year but this is the third meeting since the July 15, 2016 coup bid blamed on the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen. He denies the charges.
The government upped the civilian component of the council following the failed coup, giving more place to government ministers than military figures.
The decision comes with the army still fighting an insurrection by the Kurdistan Workers'Party (PKK) in the southeast of Turkey that in recent years has claimed the lives of hundreds of members of the security forces.
It also waged a long campaign inside Syria to oust Kurdish militia and jihadists from the border area.
