The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) announced on Friday that its current number of personnel had fallen to 391,695 from 596,059 following developments in the aftermath of a failed coup attempt on July 15.
According to the TSK statement, which was released almost two months after the July 15 coup attempt, which was followed by a massive purge in the military, the number of generals and admirals in TSK ranks fell to 206 from 385 in May.
When compared to the figures announced in May, the number of officers dropped to 29,946 from 39,553, noncommissioned officers to 67,656 from 96,593, specialized sergeants to 48,879 from 73,716, reserve officers to 5,827 from 7,087, privates and conscripts including gendarmes to 182,784 from 311,245, and the number of civil servants dropped to 40,519 from 51,923.
Since the Gendarmerie Forces Command and the Coast Guard Command were transferred to the Interior Ministry from the General Staff, the members of these two forces were deducted from total personnel of the TSK, as were the thousands of officers who were expelled from the military over coup charges.
