ANKARA (AA) – Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus has said all “coup-plotting terrorists” will be removed from state institutions.
In remarks made to the media before his meeting with Turkish-origin Kosovar politician Mahir Yagcilar at the Cankaya Palace in Ankara Wednesday, Kurtulmus said: “These coup-plotting terrorists [involved in the July 15 coup attempt] will be purged from state institutions,” he said. “We will democratize our system so that nobody will ever think to plot another coup in Turkey.”
He said the democratization process would begin with the Supreme Military Council meeting set to take place at the Cankaya Palace Thursday.
The meeting is expected to announce some major changes in the military’s management.
“We will remove all of these parasites, enemies of state and their collaborators from the Turkish Armed Forces,” he said. “More importantly, we will fix civil-military relations systematically so that there will never be another coup.
“Turkey will be a more democratic country with measures taken after the failed coup.”
At least 246 people, including members of the security forces and civilians, were martyred during the failed coup, and more than 2,100 others were wounded in the ensuing protests in the wake of the attempted coup.
U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen and his Fetullah Terrorist Organization have been accused of a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the parallel state.
