Turkish prosecutors decimate Turkish armed forces pilots

According to the Ankara Public Prosecutor's Office, 48 helicopter pilots belonging to the command of the army, three of whom have the rank of Colonel and four are Lieutenant Colonels, were arrested and detained at the headquarters of the anti-terrorist service in the Turkish capital.

According to the prosecutor's office, Ankara's Advocate General has also issued arrest warrants against 15 citizens who are considered as "liaisons" by the pilots with the Fetullahh Güllen movement.

The arrests took place in the pogrom that followed the attempted coup d'état of July 15, 2016, which has continued since then with dozens to hundreds of arrests per week.

Tens of thousands of people have been arrested after the attempted coup d'état and 140,000 have been fired or suspended.

During the recent visit to an aircraft maintenance base, Turkey's Minister of Defense Hulousi Akar admitted that the Turkish Air Force is facing an issue with its pilots, as 4 out of 5 have left in recent years.

The problem arose after the cleansing in the armed forces following the coup against Erdogan in July 2014.

"We already had a problem with the number of pilots, but then this fell by 80%. As a result then a pilot does the job for five " Akar stated.