Erdogan continues series of hitting his army: Money in exchange for exemption from military service

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has been targeting the army since the coup d’état, whose scenario was drawn up in July 2016, in order to get rid of him and control him through his followers, which contributes to the stability of his government.

Erdogan not only arrested hundreds of members of the army, on various charges, whether to participate in the play of the coup, or join the group of Fathallah Gulen movement or conspiracy against the state, but sought to do more actions.

The latest of these actions is the approval by the Turkish parliament on a new decree to reduce the duration of compulsory military service in the army, which sparked controversy in the country, especially since this decision will have a strong impact on the strength and prestige of the army.

Under the new law, the period of mandatory military service is reduced to 6 months for soldiers and noncommissioned officers after a full year and 12 months for reserve officers. The period is reduced or decreased according to the President’s decision and according to the needs of the country.

The new law also includes other exciting items, such as the possibility of a citizen to attend military training for one month only, then be exempted from the rest of the period to pay 31,000 Turkish liras or about $5371.

The new decision opens the door to the irregularity of many young people belonging to the high-income classes in military service, and is a ploy of the ruling Justice and Development Party to cope with the country’s economic crisis and trying to collect as much money as possible in various ways.

The Justice and Development Party announced that the new decision aims to reduce the cost of the army and rely more on professional fighters away from young people who are not good at dealing with weapons quickly. The training process is difficult and complex, but the truth appears to be contrary to what the party declared.

The decision is a continuation of Erdogan’s ill-treatment against the Turkish army. Arbitrary arrests and detentions of 2,049 soldiers took place during the last year 2018, with 1122 ground forces, 432 naval forces and 795 air forces.