The Turkish government has detained so many military personnel since the July 15 coup attempt that it has moved up a Supreme Military Council (SMC) meeting to determine what to do next and what reforms are needed in the Turkish military (TSK).

The massive number of detained military personnel continues to rise. According to Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, as of the evening of July 23, 8,838 military personnel had been detained. Of those, 163 are generals and admirals — about 40% of the TSK total in those ranks. Another 2,339 are officers, 6% of the TSK total. Of those who were brought before a judge, 123 generals and admirals and 1,009 officers were arrested and sent to prison.

The incredibly high number of generals removed from duty makes the upcoming council meeting — where promotions, appointments and retirements of generals are decided — extremely important this year. As I pointed out in a July 19 column, one of the key reasons for the coup attempt was the fear of the coup plotters that the council was planning to discharge most of them from the TSK. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blames the so-called Fethullah Terror Organization (FETO), which he said had penetrated the TSK and hastily decided to stage a coup when it heard of the coming purge.

This week, meeting planners decided to move the SMC meeting up to July 28 instead of the originally scheduled Aug. 1-4, and to change the venue. Traditionally the SMC meets at the headquarters of the chief of general staff; this year it will be meeting at Cankaya Palace. Many see this location change as evidence of Erdogan’s continuing lack of confidence in the TSK. Also, files for personnel actions, which used to be prepared by the chief of military staff's personnel department, this year are being prepared by the ground forces' personnel department and the national intelligence service, MIT, as the key officers responsible for this work — primarily the head of personnel of the chief of staff headquarters — are in custody.