Turkish authorities have dismissed more than 10,000 civil servants
over their suspected links with U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen,
blamed by Ankara for orchestrating the failed coup in July.
Thousands of academics, teachers and health workers were among those
removed through a new emergency rule decree published on the Official
Gazette late on Saturday while 15 media outlets, almost all of which
reported from the largely Kurdish southeast, were shut down.
Through the decrees, elections to choose a rector at the universities
have also been abolished. President Tayyip Erdogan will directly
appoint the rectors from the candidates nominated by the High
Educational Board (YOK).
Turkey has formally arrested more than 37,000 people and has already
sacked or suspended 100,000 civil servants, judges, prosecutors, police
and others in an unprecedented crackdown the government says is
necessary to root out all supporters of Gulen from the state apparatus
and key positions.
A state of emergency imposed right after the bloody failed coup in
July has been extended for another three months until January after
Erdogan said the authorities needed more time to eradicate the threat
posed by Gulen’s network as well as Kurdish militants who have waged a
32-year insurgency.
The total number of media outlets shut down since the start of the state of emergency has now exceeded 160.
The extent of the crackdown has worried rights groups and some
Western allies, who fear Erdogan is using it to curtail dissent. The
government says the actions are justified by the threat to the state on
July 15, when more than 240 people died.
Ankara wants the United States to detain and extradite Gulen so that
he can be prosecuted in Turkey on a charge that he masterminded the
attempt to overthrow the government. Gulen, who has lived in
self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, denies any involvement.
Source : http://en.prothom-alo.com/international/news/127111/Turkey-sacks-10-000-more-civil-servants-post-coup

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