Following last year's oath-taking crisis at the Army War College graduation ceremony, this year's ceremonies were held under very strict security measures.
At the 2025 graduation ceremony, the Turkish Armed Forces High Disciplinary Board interpreted the raising of swords and chanting of the slogan “We are Mustafa Kemal's soldiers” as a protest against the government and dismissed five lieutenants and their three commanding officers from the army.
This year, the Army, Navy, and Air Force Academy ceremonies were held in Ankara as a single ceremony instead of three separate ceremonies. A maximum of four family members per graduate were permitted to attend and guests entered by showing a barcode.
Soldiers were warned in advance that sword clashes were prohibited at the ceremony. At the end, instead of military marches, the music from the series “Awakening: Great Selçuklu” was played.
Erhan Afyoncu, Rector of the National Defense University, told the newly graduated lieutenants, “You will be under the command of the civilian authority throughout your service,” at the ceremony, which was also attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
