Turkey dismisses thousands of people from duty on eve of coup anniversary

Turkey dismisses thousands of people from duty on eve of coup anniversary
The Turkish government issued a decree dismissing 7,348 people from their posts who were alleged to have links with the coup plotters, on the day before the anniversary of the coup. / Pixabay
By bne IntelliNews July 17, 2017

The Turkish government issued a decree on July 14, dismissing 7,348 people, including 356 academics, 546 soldiers, more than 2,300 police officers, and hundreds of civil servants at the justice, health, foreign affairs and interior ministries from duty over their alleged links to the coup plotters. The decree also stripped a total of 342 retired military officers of their ranks.

The dismissals came on July 14, a day before the anniversary of last year’s coup attempt which left more than 200 people dead. The government holds the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers responsible for the botch putsch. In the post-coup crackdown, about 50,000 people were arrested and nearly 120,000 were dismissed from state institutions, while 965 companies with assets of around TRY 41bn ($11.3bn) were seized.

On July 15, hundreds of thousands of people attended events held across the country to mark the first anniversary of the coup. “National Unity” marches were staged in Ankara and Istanbul.

As part of the week-long events, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan addressed the nation at 02:32am at the exact time when parliament was bombed by fighter jets belonging to the coup plotters on July 15 last year. The president also attended a rally in Istanbul on the bridge across the Bosporus where several people were killed last year as they confronted the pro-coup soldiers.

In his speeches in the capital and Istanbul, Erdogan vowed to continue the crackdown and severely punish those who were behind the coup attempt. He also criticised Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of Turkey’s main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), who has claimed on several occasions that the government had prior knowledge of the coup but did nothing to prevent it “It is disrespectful and insulting to 250 martyrs, disrespectful and insulting to 2,193 veterans; it is disrespectful and insulting to this nation," Erdogan said, according to state-run broadcaster TRT World.

Hundreds of thousands of people joined  Kilicdaroglu at a massive rally in Istanbul on July 9 which marked the end of the 69-year old politician’s 450km “Justice March”. At the rally, Kilicdaroglu called for an end to the state of emergency, which was declared immediately after the botched putsch, and allows the government to rule by decree. However, PM Binali Yildirim said on July 14 that he would propose extending the emergency rule by another three months.

The president also promised to bring back the death penalty if parliament passes it.

The European Union has repeatedly warned that the reintroduction of the death penalty would mean the end of accession talks with Ankara.

“I don’t care what Hans, George say [about the death penalty], I look at what Hasan, Mehmet, Ayse say,” Erdogan told the crowd in the capital.

He also slammed Europe for failing to keep its promises towards Turkey.

“The stance of the EU is clear – 54 years have passed and they are still mocking us,” Erdogan said, referring to the 1963 Ankara Agreement between Turkey and Europe.

“They have not kept their promises regarding visa liberalisation and financial aid for refugees… We will sort things out for ourselves. There is no other option,” he added.

The EU and Turkey inked a key refugee agreement in March 2016 in an effort at stemming flows of illegal migrants to the European continent. As part of the deal, the EU promised to fast-track EU membership talks, ease visa rules for Turkish citizens and grant more financial aid.

Ankara applied for EU membership in 1987 and was declared an eligible candidate in 1999. Formal accession negotiations started in 2005, but talks have stalled over the past couple of years as the pace of reforms in Turkey has slowed.

“Unfortunately Turkey’s allies, particularly our friends in the west, have been unable to fully appreciate the significance of what happened. Instead of expressing solidarity with my countrymen, a number of western governments and institutions opted to wait and see how the crisis would play out,” Erdogan said in an article for The Guardian published on July 15.

“Their hypocrisy and double standards deeply disturbed the Turkish people, who risked everything to defend freedom,” he said in the article.

“We remain committed to justice. Turkey has set up independent commissions to review the cases of former public officials challenging their dismissals. Our goal is to prosecute criminals to the full extent of the law while building our country’s resilience to future attacks,” Erdogan added.

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