PHOTO: Turkish journalists gather outside a courthouses on Tuesday in support of detained colleague Bulent Mumay (Petros Karadijas/AP)
UPDATE 1730 GMT: Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu says 88 diplomats, including two ambassadors, have been dismissed.
Çavuşoğlu told CNN Türk that the total will rise in the coming days:
The number of personnel with links to this organization is more than 300. This includes two or three ambassadors. We have established a commission within the ministry that examines every single case based on a number of criteria.
He named the two ambassadors as Gürcan Balık, who served in Canada, and Tuncay Babalı, the chief advisor to former Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. He said they were fired along with two other ambassador-level diplomats, Şentürk Uzun and Ali Fındık.
UPDATE 1630 GMT: President Erdoğan has moved to take official control of the intelligence services and military.
CNN Türk said Erdoğan is seeking to tie the National Intelligence Agency (MİT) and Turkish General Staff to the Presidency.
MİT and the General Staff are currently under the Prime Ministry, which Erdoğan led from 2003 to 2014, when he became President.
Erdoğan has also replaced nine heads of university, including the recommendations of the Higher Education Board for new rectors for Middle East Technical University (ODTÜ), Ankara University, and Gazi University.
UPDATE 1030 GMT: Two generals have resigned from Turkey’s Supreme Military Council, following the dismissal of 130 of their colleagues.
Army generals Kamil Basoglu and Ihsan Uya handed in their notices hours before a meeting of the Council to discuss a review of the armed forces. Sources said they were protesting the Government’s purge of the military.
The Turkish Government has dismissed at least 1,223 officers following the June 15 coup attempt.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Turkey’s Government has banned dozens of media organizations, invoking a decree for a three-month state of emergency following the failed coup of July 15.
Three news agencies, 16 TV channels, 23 radio stations, 45 newspapers, 15 magazines, and 29 publishing houses are the latest outlets to be closed.
The Government invoked its standard line that the outlets are part of the “terror organization” of self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, blamed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for the coup.
Erdoğan and his Ministers have clamped down on media in recent years. Turkey is the world’s biggest jailer of journalists, per capita, and broadcasters and newspapers have been suspended or taken over by the State. Social media channels such as Twitter and YouTube have been restricted.
However, the coup attempt has given the President the platform for greater limitations on the public sphere. More than 60,000 State employees — not just troops but also judges, teachers, journalists, academics, and civil servants — have been detained or suspended.
Among the newsapers in the latest ban are Zaman and its English-language outlet Today’s Zaman — both of which were taken over by the State in March because of their challenge to the Government — Taraf, Bugün and Millet. Kanaltürk and Samanyolu are among the closed TV stations.
The Istanbul Prosecutor also issued detention warrants for 47 former employees and executives of the Zaman media group.