Turkey's major defence industry institutions have been officially attached to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with a new emergency decree on published on December 24 under the emergency rule imposed after an attempted coup last year.
The affected institutions include Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), Aselsan Military Electronics Industries, Roketsan Missile Industries and Havelsan Air Electronics Industries, among others.
Under the latest decree, Turkish Armed Forces Foundation will be managed by a Board of Trustees, and the new Chair of the Board will be occupied by Erdoğan.
The Board will be composed of the Ministry of National Defense, the Deputy Chief of the Turkish General Staff, the Undersecretary of Ministry of National Defense, and the Undersecretary of Defense Industry.
The Undersecretariat for Defense Industry, which previously operated under the Ministry of National Defense, has been directly attached to the Presidency. The Executive Committee of the Defense Industry, which was previously convened by the request of the Prime Minister, will now be formed under the Presidency. The agenda of the committee meetings will also be determined by the President.
The new decree boosts President Erdoğan's power over the national defence more than ever.
Turkey's AKP governments recent decree also projects no legal or criminal liability for those 'civilians' who engaged in lynch events during the bloody night of July 15 coup attempt.
Erdoğan will head Turkey's National Intelligence Coordination Board, and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) is set to report directly to the president instead of the prime minister, according to decrees published in August.
