Ankara - Turkey's secularist military yesterday expelled dozens of its members for indiscipline in what the Turkish press says is a new crackdown on soldiers with Islamist links. "Expulsion procedures were taken against 59 personnel for reasons of indiscipline," the army's Supreme Military Council said in a statement carried by the state-run Anatolian news agency after a two-day meeting of senior officers.
The Turkish media had said the council would dishonourably discharge more than 50 soldiers for links to Islamist groups. "Expulsions are on the cards. Those who were involved in fundamentalist activity and those who defied army discipline face expulsions," a military official said earlier.