'No group to prevail at military schools'

No group or marginal mentality will be allowed to prevail at Turkish military schools, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.

Addressing a graduation ceremony at National Defense University in Istanbul, Erdogan said: “We will not let any ideology, group or marginal mentality to take control of our [military] schools.”

Erdogan said the Turkish Military Academy was among the main centers of plotters of the July 15, 2016 defeated coup.

Fethullah Terrorist Organization and its U.S.-based leader Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured in Turkey.

The president added that all military educational institutions of Turkey were now under a single roof, namely the National Defense University, after the old education system was rectified following the defeated coup.

Addressing the same ceremony, Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar said FETO attempted to defame Turkish military during its bid to overthrow the government on July 15, 2016.

Gen. Akar said: “Today, the Turkish General Staff carries out its duty to defend [the country’s] sovereignty and independence, as the citizens expect from it, with a high consciousness and excellence, which is getting stronger as it gets cleared from traitors who infiltrated it.”

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.