The government has dismissed 7,000 police, ministry staff, and academics from their positions one day before the first anniversary of the failed coup, as reported by the BBC.
The dismissal was published in an official government newspaper on Friday but came in a decree issued on June 5.
It states that the dismissed employees are people, “who it's been determined have been acting against the security of the state or are members of a terrorist organization.”
Among the dismissed are 2,303 police officers, 302 university academics, and another 342 retired officers or soldiers who were stripped of their ranks and grades.
US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen has been accused by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Turkish government of orchestrating last year’s failed coup that killed more than 240 people. His network of followers was declared a terrorist organization just two months prior to the incident.
Gulen denies the accusations.
Turkey has already arrested 50,000 from the military, police, and other sectors in addition to dismissing over 150,000 officials throughout the past year.
Erdogan’s consolidation of power has been denounced by Gulen, who has referred to Turkey’s president as “a dictator” and has encouraged US President Donald Trump’s administration as well as European governments to do more to restore political freedoms in Turkey.
"(If Erdogan hears) a strong voice from the United States or European Union, European Parliament, Brussels, saying: 'What you are doing is wrong ... your judicial system is not working,' then maybe he will change his mind," the cleric stated.
Turkey has already arrested 50,000 from the military, police, and other sectors in addition to dismissing over 150,000 officials throughout the past year.
Erdogan’s consolidation of power has been denounced by Gulen, who has referred to Turkey’s president as “a dictator” and has encouraged US President Donald Trump’s administration as well as European governments to do more to restore political freedoms in Turkey.
"(If Erdogan hears) a strong voice from the United States or European Union, European Parliament, Brussels, saying: 'What you are doing is wrong ... your judicial system is not working,' then maybe he will change his mind," the cleric stated.
