Turkey to train 3,500 officers in National Defense University

The National Defense University and Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy are initiatives founded in line with a state of emergency decree issued after the failed seizure of power.

“We are setting up the Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy. A university aimed at the TSK [Turkish Armed Forces] is being founded, the National Defense University. We will welcome students this year. We will train 500 officers and 3,000 non-commissioned officers,” Ala told Anadolu Agency on Aug. 24, adding that training will begin on Jan. 1, 2017.

“We will accept high school and university graduates,” he said, noting it would be “impossible to brainwash” the people trained after they graduate from high schools and universities.

“They were able to format the brains of the people graduated from elementary schools,” he said, referring to military high schools that were closed. 

During his interview, Ala also commented on the attack on a wedding in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, saying the type of bomb used was “a fabricated explosive.”

“The explosive is a RDX, it’s a fabricated explosive. When this is the case, it brings about the image that professional help was received. RDX usually means that there is a professional plot, but the investigations will tell us if that was the case in this attack,” he said, adding that there is no new information regarding the attack that claimed 54 lives, mostly children.