In particular, it goes about the prisoners, who have less than two years left to serve and those who showed good behavior.
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The dispensation would only apply to those sentenced before July 1 – weeks before the failed coup – and would exclude those guilty of crimes such as murder, sexual or drug offenses and terrorism, he said.
Some 38,000 prisoners will be released during the next two years in Turkey, the country’s Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said, TRT Haber news channel reported August 17. Previously only the heads of the army, navy or air force could be promoted to the post.
But since the failed putsch, in which rogue soldiers seized tanks and fighter jets in their attempt to overthrow the government, rights groups have documented horrific abuses in Turkish detention centers, including sports centers and courthouses.
Raids in Istanbul’s Umraniye and Uskudar districts came after authorities issued warrants to detain 120 company executives as part of the investigation into the coup attempt.
The crackdown on alleged supporters of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen continues in Turkey, where police have arrested 136 out of a total of 173 court staff at the Palace of Justice, the nation’s biggest courthouse.
Thirteen out of 111 suspects in the case are remanded in custody, it said.
US officials have been cautious on the extradition of Gulen, saying they need clear evidence. He has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999.
In a separate decree, also issued on Wednesday, the government dismissed another 2,360 officers from the police force, in addition to another 136 military officers and 196 employees from its information technology authority.
Incensed over a perceived lack of Western sympathy over the coup attempt, Erdogan has also revived relations with Russian Federation, a detente Western officials worry may be used by both leaders to pressure the European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
Wednesday’s decree provides for the release of 38,000 people.
On Tuesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to discuss an upcoming visit by Vice President Joe Biden, as well as Turkey’s demand that Gulen be extradited, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
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Under previous emergency rule decrees, Turkey had already dismissed thousands of security force members as well as ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions suspected of links to Gulen.
