Turkey culls 1,400 from army and tightens its grip

Turkey has dismissed 1,400 more members of its armed forces and stacked the top military council with government ministers. This is designed by President Tayyip Erdogan to put him in full control of the military after a failed coup.

The scale of Erdogan’s crackdown — 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and schools have been either detained, suspended, or placed under investigation since the July 15-16 coup — has unnerved Turkey’s NATO allies, fuelling tension between Ankara and the West.

Adding to the acrimony, Turkey’s EU Affairs minister hit out at Germany on Sunday, after its constitutional court upheld a ban on Erdogan making a televised address to a rally of pro-government Turks in Cologne.