The plan would create a centralized system that would enable him to better tackle Turkey's internal and external threats. One of the main hurdles allegedly standing in his way is Fethullah Gulen's movement ..."[238] In the aftermath of the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, a groundswell of national unity and consensus emerged for cracking down on the coup plotters with a National Unity rally held in Turkey that included Islamists, secularists, liberals and nationalists.[239][240] Erdoğan has used this consensus to remove Gulen followers from the bureaucracy, curtail their role in NGOs, Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs and the Turkish military, with 149 Generals discharged.[241] In a foreign policy shift Erdoğan ordered the Turkish Armed Forces into battle in Syria and has liberated towns from IS control.[242] As relations with Europe soured over in the aftermath of the attempted coup, Erdoğan developed alternative relationships with Russia,[243][244] Saudi Arabia[245] and a "strategic partnership" with Pakistan,[246][247] with plans to cultivate relations through free trade agreements and deepening military relations for mutual co-operation with Turkey's regional allies.[248][249][250]