Govt. sacks 900 workers suspected of working with Terrorist group

Turkey on Friday dismissed 900 civil servants from ministries, public institutions and the military, suspected of having links and collaborating with terrorist groups.

Under the latest decrees, published in the government’s Official Gazette, those sacked included more than 100 academic personnel.

Turkey has sacked or suspended no fewer than 150,000 officials in purges since the failed 2016 coup while cases against 50,000 people including soldiers, police, civil servants are pending.

The crackdown has targeted people whom authorities say they suspect of links to the network of Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, blamed by Ankara for the coup.

According to the decrees, President Tayyip Erdogan’s permission will be required for the head of the MIT national intelligence agency to be investigated or to act as a witness.

The president will also chair the national intelligence coordination board.

The Ankara chief prosecutor’s office will have the authority to investigate members of parliament for alleged crimes committed before or after an election, according to one of the measures.

One of the decrees also ordered the closure of the pro-Kurdish news agency Dihaber and two newspapers, all based in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir.

Since the coup, some 130 media outlets have been closed and around 150 journalists jailed.

Such measures have alarmed Turkey’s Western allies and rights groups, who say Erdogan has used the attempted coup as a pretext to muzzle dissent.

Some 250 people were killed in the coup attempt, and the government has said the security measures are necessary because of the gravity of the threats facing Turkey.

Gulen has condemned the coup attempt and denied involvement.

Under the decrees, Turkey will also recruit 32,000 staff for the police, along with 4,000 judges and prosecutors.

NAN