Turkey shakes up security forces post-coup

Turkish authorities today announced a shake-up of the security forces one week after the botched coup attempt, as Ankara vowed not to seek revenge despite a growing crackdown.
Supporters are celebrating the coup's failure to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but the Turkish strongman faces growing global criticism over the mass detentions and sackings of tens of thousands of people.
Erdogan blames the coup, which saw seized fighter jets bomb Ankara and tanks run amok in Istanbul, on loyalists of the US-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen. Turkey has demanded his extradition.
In the most significant institutional changes since the coup, powerful Interior Minister Efkan Ala said the gendarmerie would in future be part of the interior ministry and not the army.

The gendarmerie, which looks after domestic security, had always been part of the military and its removal is a blow to the armed forces' clout after the coup.
"The gendarmerie will definitely be dependent entirely on the interior ministry," Ala said, quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Erdogan was meanwhile meeting the head of Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MIT) Hakan Fidan at the presidential palace, Turkish television said.
Fidan, a key figure in modern Turkey, is under pressure after Erdogan repeatedly identified intelligence weaknesses during the coup.
On Wednesday, the president admitted there had been "intelligence failures", saying he learned about the coup from his brother-in-law.

Authorities imposed a state of emergency on Thursday, strengthening powers to round up suspects behind the failed putsch and suspending the European Convention on Human Rights.
The European Union urged Turkey "to respect under any circumstances the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms", in a joint statement from foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn.
They slammed as "unacceptable" the sacking or suspension of tens of thousands of people in the education system, judiciary and the media and said they were monitoring the state of emergency "with concern".
Turkey's Western allies have been watching with alarm the turmoil in the key NATO member state, which has also been reeling from a wave of bomb attacks by Islamic State group jihadists and Kurdish rebels.