A NEW presidential decree has introduced sweeping reforms to Turkey's military after the failed coup.
The decree gives the president and prime minister the authority to issue direct orders to the commanders of the army, air force and navy.
It also shuts down military schools, establishes a new national defence university, puts force commanders directly under the defence ministry and announces the discharge of 1,389 military personnel.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has launched a sweeping crackdown on those he accuses of being involved in the attempted coup on July 15.
In an interview with private A Haber television, Mr Erdogan said he also wants to bring the country's intelligence agency and the chief of general staff's headquarters under the presidency.
The discharged military personnel include Mr Erdogan's chief military adviser, who was arrested days after the attempted putsch, the chief of general staff's charge d'affaires, and the defence minister's chief secretary.
The decree puts all military hospitals under the authority of the health ministry instead of the military, and also expands the Supreme Military Council - the body that makes decisions on military affairs and appointments - to include the deputy prime ministers and the justice, foreign and interior ministers.
The document, published in the official gazette, also shuts down all military schools, academies and non-commissioned officer training institutes and establishes a new national defence university to train officers.
After the attempted coup, which killed more than 200 people, Mr Erdogan launched a sweeping crackdown on those believed linked to the movement of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of instigating the coup.
Mr Gulen, who lives in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, denies any involvement in the coup.
More than 10,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown, most of whom are military personnel. Thousands more have been detained while nearly 70,000 people have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs in the education, media, health care, military and judiciary sectors.
The package will need to go to parliament for a vote.
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