Turkish prez vows to 'purge' military graduates who took pro-secular oath

The Turkish president has hit out at military graduates who took a pro-secular oath during their graduation ceremony, promising that those behind it would be purged from the military.

Speaking at a conference for Islamic schools in the northwestern city of Kocaeli on Saturday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan described those involved as opportunists. He added that an investigation was underway and vowed that the few impertinent individuals responsible will be purged.

Whoever they are, it is not possible for them to be part of our military, Erdogan said.

Erdogan was present at the graduation ceremony at the Turkish Military Academy in Ankara on August 30.

Valedictorian Ebru Eroglu led the 960-strong graduating class in reciting the official military oath about defending Turkiye. But video footage from about an hour later shows about 400 of the graduates gathered in a field, raising their swords and chanting We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal a reference to the secular founder of ..