Turkey has dismissed 8,400 civil servants and closed 80 associations including sports clubs, in another round of purges following the failed July coup. The purges happened today.
Since July over a 100,000 people have been sacked or suspended for alleged cooperation in planning the coup. The purge is relentless and shows no signs of slowing down or stopping anytime soon.
New decrees published show that 8,390 civil servants from 63 different state institutions are being purged. Turkey is currently in a state of emergency.
Around 2,687 are police officers, and 1,699 civil servants are being dismissed from the justice ministry, 838 purged are health officials, and hundreds of employees from other ministries.
A further 638 academics and eight members of the Council of State were dismissed.
Turkey’s current state of emergency has recently been extended and so will remain in force until April 19th. The state of emergency allows the Turkish government to make the dismissals without parliamentary approval.
As well as purges within Turkey, Turkish people overseas may lose their citizenship if they fail to respond to a ummons to testify as part of the coup investigations.
Police have also now been given the power to determine the identity of internet subscribers when investigating online crimes.
Critics of the measures have said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are using the powers to target anyone who has shown anti government feeling.
U.S based Fethullah Gulen has been blamed for the coup. He has denied these claims.
The failed coup left 248 people dead and wounded thousands.
Turkey is insistent that everyone who is investigated will get a fair hearing. Recently 246 people were allowed to return to work after previous dismissal.
Over 41,000 people with suspected links to Gulen have been arrested. The first trials are beginning this month in what is the biggest legal process the country has ever seen.
