PHOTO: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the funeral of a victim in the failed July 15 coup
Turkey’s Government has carried out another purge of State employees following the failed July 15 coup, firing more than 40,000 in three new emergency decrees.
Of those fired in Wednesday’s decrees, 28,163 personnel are from the Education Ministry. In the Health Ministry, 2,018 personnel have been dismissed, while 1,642 have been removed from the Finance Ministry and related institutions. About 1,200 were fired from agriculture and social policies ministries.
There were also 302 dismissals from the Prime Minister’s office and 215 from the Foreign Ministry, as well as 312 firings at State broadcaster TRT. Another 2,346 academics have lost their posts.
And in the latest purge of security personnel, 7,669 police — including 852 police chiefs — have been released.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pledged to clear Turkish institution of personnel linked to self-exiled cleric Fethullah Gülen, whom he blames for the July 15 coup attempt. The two men were allies until 2013, when they broke over claims of corruption within the Government.
In the days after the failed coup, more than 80,000 personnel were fired, including hundreds of generals, admirals, and air force commanders and thousands of judges.
Erdoğan has failed to convince US authorities to extradite Gülen, who lives on a farm in Pennsylvania.
