Erdogan says Turks can avoid army service for 30,000 liras

Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government plans to allow men over 30 to pay 30,000 liras ($16,325) to win exemption from compulsory service in the military, the second-largest force in NATO.

The change has been on the ruling party's agenda for nine years and was drafted so as not to weaken the armed forces, Erdogan said. Income from the exemption payments will fund social services for veterans of the armed forces, gendarmerie and police, he said today in a speech televised from Ankara.

The Turkish military employs 720,000 people, including more than 465,000 soldiers serving under 365 generals and admirals, according to figures released on the armed forces website yesterday.

The aim of the new measure is to "placate the public" and deal with the reality of some ?00,000 or 300,000 men of serving age who are somehow avoiding service,?according to Hatem Ete, an analyst at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research in Ankara.

"It wouldn't be possible if there was a shortage of troops, but the Turkish army is already very big," Ete said. The military is "slowly moving toward professionalism," and "the question is whether compulsory military service will be completely removed, or reduced," he said.

The proposal for paid service has prompted controversy in part because of Erdogan's clashes with secularist officers, dozens of whom have been imprisoned in an investigation into alleged coup plots against him, and because military service is viewed in Turkey as a visa to manhood," Ete said.