Both outgoing Chief of Staff Gen. Necdet Özel and his successor, Gen. Hulusi Akar, gave strong messages regarding the continuation of the fight against the Gülen Movement's alleged infiltration of the army.During the handover ceremony held in honor of Akar, who was appointed the country's new chief of general staff on Aug. 5, military officials, along with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, emphasized the necessity of fighting against the Gülen Movement-affiliated structure in several state institutions. In his speech, implying Gülenist infiltration, Akar said: "The Turkish Armed Forces [TSK] has a single chain of command structure, which was laid down by the country's laws. No one's influence and that of no entity from the legal hierarchy in our military's organization and its activity is possible."Akar is replacing Gen. Özel, who served as the top military leader since 2011. Concerning the same issue, Özel spoke of the period when he was handed the top military office: "The TSK was suffering a trauma with its regular or retired officers [at that time]." "The TSK command echelons have a good grasp of the importance of the issue. It did what was necessary and it is doing well," he said.He further said: "The TSK fights against every sort of structure that will disturb the peace of our dear nation, which purposes the unity, solidarity and integrity of the country and which is desired to be constructed outside of the legal structure of our state." Erdoğan also underlined the determinant stance against the Gülenist structure in the state and said: "We will never allow 'parallel structure' elements within the state."The Gülen Movement was defined as a national security threat in the Red Book, which includes a list of enemies of the state, in the National Security Council meeting on April 29. Again, during the Supreme Military Council (YAŞ) meeting on Aug.3, the threat posed by the Gülen Movement-aligned "parallel structure," as well as military personnel who are allegedly affiliated with the movement, was at the top of the agenda, along with the ongoing investigation of over 1,000 allegedly Gülenist military personnel.The movement is also accused of facilitating cheating on several institutional exams, including the Public Personnel Selection Exams (KPSS) and military high school entrance exams. Thus, during operations conducted by the counterterrorism department of the police headquarters in June, detention warrants for eight people who allegedly have links with the Gülen Movement were issued and a total of four suspects were detained, three of whom were in the central Anatolian city of Kayseri and one in Ankara. The suspects are accused of providing answers to the military high school exam beforehand to affiliated members, being members of the "Gülenist terror organization" to commit crimes, contravening the Student Selection and Placement Center (ÖSYM) law and infraction of rules during the exams. During his term holding office in the Defense Ministry, Parliament Speaker İsmet Yılmaz said investigations have been launched into the existence of Gülen Movement-affiliated suspects in the military following several reports in media outlets."Both administrational and legal investigations have been launched into allegations of the existence of over 1,000 Gülen Movement-linked suspects in the military," Yılmaz said, and added: "The national character of the army should not be altered under any circumstances."He went on to elaborate that such alteration would mean the army would receive their instructions from external structures rather than officials, posing a direct threat to its legitimacy.