Turkey has now fired or suspended about 50,000 people after a failed coup over the weekend as it intensifies its vast purge — battering the country’s security forces and many of its democratic institutions.
Teachers, journalists, police and judges alike have been caught in a net authorities are casting wider by the day, in what is increasingly looking like a witch-hunt to suppress dissent, reports CNN.
The Turkish President’s supporters celebrate after soldiers surrendered on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge.
Western leaders urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his government to respect democratic principles and act within the law even as authorities talk of reviving the death penalty and heavy-handed punishments over the coup.
The purge has gutted the leadership in the country’s security forces, with at least 118 generals and admirals detained, stripping the general-rank command of the Turkish military by a third, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
Authorities have also suspended 8,777 Ministry of Interior personnel, mostly police, as well as 100 Turkish intelligence service personnel, according to the semiofficial Anadolu news agency.
Here is a tally of who has been affected, according to Anadolu:
– 21,000 teachers in private institutions have had their licenses revoked;
– 15,200 Education Ministry personnel have been suspended and are under investigation;
– 2,745 judges and prosecutors have been listed for detention, although it is unclear if they have all been detained, and;
– 1,577 deans have been asked to resign.
Other departments have also lost hundreds of staff members, including 370 people suspended from state broadcaster TRT, according to CNN Turk.
The Prime Minister’s office and government bodies dealing with religious affairs, family and social policy and development have been suspended. The total is around 50,000 people.
More than 9,000 people are currently in detention, according to Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus.
Info : samakal.net
