Turkish Armed Forces

Western countries should reject the asylum requests of suspected Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ) members, Defense Minister Fikri Işık said at a Nov. 21 meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, sources familiar with the meeting told the Hürriyet Daily News. 

A number of Turkish officers serving in NATO command posts have asked for asylum since a failed military coup in July, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.

Stoltenberg also said he would travel to Istanbul on Sunday, having been there in September when he sought to reassure Ankara of NATO’s continued support.

Turkish defense company Roketsan delivered the 303 mm Guided Missile System, also known as KASIRGA (Hurricane), to the Turkish military at a ceremony held in the capital Ankara on Nov. 16

Some Turkish military officers posted to NATO in Europe have requested asylum since the coup attempt in Turkey in July, alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Nov. 18.

Several members of the Turkish military stationed at a NATO base in southeast Germany have sought asylum in the country to avoid returning to Turkey, the German DPA news agency has reported.

DPA reported on Nov. 16 that the soldiers are stationed at NATO's air command in Ramstein, southwest Germany.

Four months after the coup attempt in Turkey, several Turkish soldiers have requested political asylum in Germany.

These are Turkish officers at NATO's military base in Ramstein.

A total of 20,088 people, including soldiers and military students, have been dismissed from the army in line with the ongoing investigation into the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ), Defense Minister Fikri Işık has stated.

The restructuring of the Turkish military in the wake of the July 15 failed coup attempt could create more problems than it solves, according to Nihat Ali Özcan, an academic an a retired major.

"Efforts to restructure the army should be done taking into account the army's functions," Özcan told the Hürriyet Daily News.

It was difficult to grasp the issue at first. At the recent annual meeting of the Turkish-American Council held at one of Ritz Carlton's meeting rooms in Washington D.C., after a panel on defense cooperation, a State Department official approached a Turkish military official to say there had been a mistake and they would solve it. The Turkish official replied kindly.

The Turkish military had a long list of high-ranking soldiers linked to the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen two weeks before the July 15 attempted coup, former gendarmerie commander Galip Mendi has told a parliamentary panel formed to investigate the failed attempt.