Ankara dismisses 2,756 public workers over suspected ‘terror’ links

Special force police officers walk in the street after clashes in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir, Turkey, November 3, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Turkish authorities have sacked more than 2,700 people from a number of public institutions over suspected links to "terror" groups or organizations in the latest round of purges since last year's botched putsch against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

According to the country’s official gazette on Sunday, a total of 2,756 people were relieved of their duties from different bodies, including the interior, foreign and defense ministries, based on a new statutory decree under the state of emergency.

Under the decree, published in the gazette, 637 soldiers from the Turkish Armed Forces, including 155 from land, 155 from naval and 327 from the air forces, were dismissed. Furthermore, 360 officials from the general Command of Gendarmerie Forces were expelled.

Moreover, 61 officials from the national police and four others from the Coast Guard Command along with 105 academics lost their jobs.

According to the decree, those sacked were either suspected members of or had links to “terror” organizations and structures, which were allegedly acting against national security. The most prominent of these organizations, according the ruling, is the so-called Fethullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), run by US-based opposition cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara says was behind the mid-July 2016 failed coup.

Gulen has since strongly rejected any involvement in the coup attempt against Erdogan, but Ankara labeled his transnational religious and social movement, Gulen Hareketi, as a terror organization, the so-called FETO. The Turkish government has so far submitted a total of seven requests to US officials concerning the extradition of the Pennsylvania-based figure.

The decree also ordered the shutdown of 17 institutions across Turkey, including two newspapers and seven associations.

The Turkish authorities have so far detained more than 50,000 people, including security officials, military personnel and civil servants, over alleged links to Gulen’s organization and the failed coup. More than 110,000 others, including military staff, civil servants and journalists, have also been sacked or suspended from work over the same accusations.

The Anatolian country, which remains in a state of emergency since July last year, has also been engaged in suppressing the media and opposition groups suspected to have played a role in the botched coup, prompting multiple rights groups and European governments to repeatedly criticize Ankara for the continued crackdown, saying the government is employing the coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent.