President Erdogan sacks 10,000 officials as Turkish chief tightens grip on power
PRESIDENT Recep Tayyip Erdogan has continued to tighten his grip on power by sacking more than 10,000 civil servants following the failed military coup earlier this year.
So far, more than 100,000 people have already been sacked or suspended and 37,000 detained following the failed coup on July 15, in which 42 were killed and 43 people injured.
Now the Turkish leader continues to come down hard on dissent, and the civil servants are just the latest wave of dismissals over suspected links with US-based cleric Fetullah Gulen.
Gulen is wanted by officials in Ankara for his apparent role in orchestrating the coup – something the Turkish preacher denies.
Repeated calls for his extradition have been made, but to no avail - prompting Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag to warn the US that “nothing would ever be the same again” in terms of Turkish relations.
Erdogan says US ‘should not harbour a terrorist’ like Gulen
Now, three months after the Turkish government declared a state of emergency following the failed bid, the crackdown on rogue staff continues as Erdogan promises tough punishments for the plotters.
The Turkish government claims the latest unprecedented purge is necessary to remove all Gulen supporters from state roles.
Teachers, health workers, prisons guards and forensic experts are among those who have been sacked over the suspected links, with the official decrees for their removal being published in Turkey’s Official Gazette on the evening of October 29.
Erdogan has also closed a further 15 media outlets including newspapers, news wire services and magazines, all of which cover current affairs in the mostly Kurdish south-east of the country.
The latest crackdown on press freedom has brought the total number of media organisations forced to close since emergency rule started in July close to 160.
Today, Turkish police detained the editor in chief of the opposition secularist Cumhuriyet newspaper and searched the homes of the paper’s executives and writers.
Detention warrants for a total of 13 executives and writers have been issued, including editor Murat Sabuncu and the paper's chairman, with one of its writers having already been detained in the capital Ankara.
Cumhuriyet's previous editor Can Dundar was sentenced to six years for publishing state secrets involving Ankara's Syria operations.
His conviction sparked censure from rights groups and Western governments worried about worsening human rights in Turkey under President Tayyip Erdogan.
Turkey’s opposition parties have blasted Erdogan for the tough crackdown, describing it as consisting a coup itself and raising concerns over the functioning of the state without these civil servants.
Sezgin Tanrikulu, an MP from the main opposition Republican People’s Part (CHP) said: "What the government and Erdogan are doing right now is a direct coup against the rule of law and democracy.”
Erdogan has confirmed he will ask Parliament to consider reintroducing the death penalty as a punishment for the plotters behind the failed military coup.
Capital punishment was abolished in Turkey in 2004, as the state tried to gain access to the European Union.
But Mr Erdogan, who has not specified a timetable for the reintroduction of the death penalty, said his government would take the proposal to parliament, which he said he was sure would approve it, allowing him to ratify the proposal.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz added to the Council of Europe's warning, denouncing Turkey for considering a move that would "slam the door shut to the European Union".