DHAKA: Turkey's president declared that he wants to close the nation's military academies and put the spy agency and the military chief of staff under his own control.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the proposals would be brought before parliament.

The measures are the latest in a large-scale crackdown launched after the failed coup on 15 July, BBC reports on Sunday (July 31).

The authorities said that Fetullah Gulen was behind the army-led coup in which at least 246 people died. The US-based cleric denies the allegation.

‘We are going to introduce a small constitutional package which, if approved, will bring the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and chief of staff under the control of the presidency,’ President Erdogan told.

‘Military schools will be shut down, we will establish a national defense university,’ he said.

The president added that the size of the gendarmerie would be cut, but its weaponry would be increased.

Erdogan needs a two-thirds majority for the proposals to be adopted and therefore will have to secure support from opposition parties.

BDST: 1524 HRS, July 31, 2016
SAS/AKA