‘Turkish Pentagon’ to be formed in capital Ankara: Report

ANKARA

The National Intelligence Agency (MİT), the Defense Ministry, the Turkish General Staff and other security commands will be moved to the Etimesgut district of Ankara, as a part of measures taken after the failed July 15 coup attempt, daily Habertürk reported on Oct. 4. 

The move comes after the government decided to move all military units with heavy weapons and armored vehicles to the outside central areas of cities.

The area in Etimesgut will become a “security campus” similar to the Pentagon in the U.S. and security institutions will reportedly carry out their activities from one center. 

The construction of the MİT’s new building in the area is ongoing and the agency will move there from Ankara’s Yenimahalle district when construction is completed. It will be joined by the Defense Ministry, the Turkish General Staff and other military departments in the same area. 

New buildings will reportedly be constructed for the Defense Ministry and the General Staff, with the Ground, Naval and Air Forces moving to those buildings. 

The current buildings of the General Staff and other military departments will be protected due to their “historical characteristics,” Habertürk reported, adding that they are planned to be used by other state institutions including the Interior Ministry. 

The General Staff as well as the Ground, Naval and Air Forces buildings are currently in the area where parliament is located in the Turkish capital Ankara.

“Currently, military units are still located around the parliament. This harms parliament’s civilian image. It gives the image that [parliament] is surrounded,” ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputies reportedly said in a parliamentary group meeting before the summer closure of parliament. 

Some 241 people were killed by soldiers in the July 15 coup attempt, believed to have been masterminded by followers of the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen.

The process to remove armored military vehicles as a part of the Turkish government’s effort to relocate military bases outside of city centers was recently completed in Istanbul.

In the very first moments of the coup attempt, tanks and armored vehicles dispatched from the 1st Army Command in Istanbul closed the city’s two major bridges to traffic. However, soldiers on the Bosphorus Bridge later surrendered to security forces after the coup attempt failed.

A total of 35 planes, including 24 fighter jets, 37 helicopters, 74 tanks, 246 armored vehicles and three ships were used in the coup attempt, according to figures provided by the General Staff in the aftermath of the failed takeover.