Military to recruit 265 pilots: Turkish defense minister

Military to recruit 265 pilots: Turkish defense minister

ANKARA

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A total of 265 pilots will be recruited to the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK), Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık has said, as a necessary step after the suspensions handed out over the July 15 failed coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded by the Fethullahist Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

“A total of 265 pilots were dismissed from the TSK. There are enough pilots in case of emergency, but we are below the level that we need,” Işık told Turkish broadcaster Habertürk on Aug. 12, adding a state of emergency decree necessary to carry out the recruitments was ready. 

“We are doing new regulations. It will be a decree that encompasses the right to return for the officers whom FETÖ caused to leave. The decree is ready. We are waiting for it to be published,” he added. 

Işik also said that “technical corrections” would be made in the new state of emergency decree, which will include relations between the Defense Ministry and the General Staff.