Turkish president vows to 'purge' military graduates who took a pro-secular oath

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a reception on Republic Day, in Ankara, Turkey, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019. (Presidential Press Service via AP, Pool)

ISTANBUL, Turkiye — The Turkish president has hit out at military graduates who took a pro-secular oath during their graduation ceremony, promising that those behind it would be “purged” from the military.

Speaking at a conference for Islamic schools in the northwestern city of Kocaeli on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described those involved as “opportunists.” He added that an investigation was underway and vowed that ”the few impertinent individuals responsible will be purged.”

“Whoever they are, it is not possible for them to be part of our military,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan was present at the graduation ceremony at the Turkish Military Academy in Ankara on Aug. 30.

Valedictorian Ebru Eroglu led the 960-strong graduating class in reciting the official military oath about defending Turkiye. But video footage from about an hour later shows about 400 of the graduates gathered in a field, raising their swords and chanting “We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal” — a reference to the secular founder of modern Turkiye, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

Eroglu then led the group in the Officer’s Oath, in which they vowed to defend “a secular, democratic Turkiye." That oath was discontinued from the academy in 2022.

Turkiye has become more overtly religious under Erdogan, shedding some of the secularist traditions of the original Kemalist republic.

Turkiye's military has traditionally viewed itself as the guarantor of secularism, which has resulted in a series of coups. It led three takeovers between 1960 and 1980 and toppled a conservative government in 1997. However in 2016, an attempt to overthrow Erdogan and his religious-conservative administration was foiled and thousands of people were purged from the armed forces, the judiciary, and other public institutions.

Some pro-government commentators were highly critical of the actions of the military graduates, suggesting it might be a challenge to Erdogan’s government. Others online praised it as a sign that the Turkish military will remain secular regardless of the ruling party. Erdogan ally Devlet Bahceli, head of the Nationalist Movement Party, later called for an investigation. On Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed that a probe had been launched.

In addition to the controversy, this year's graduation also stood out for being the first time in Turkiye’s history that all three branches of the military — army, navy and air force — saw women graduating at the top of their respective classes.