Turkey will release more than a fifth of its convicts to ease congestion in prisons that have been packed with thousands of people arrested in connection with last month’s failed coup.
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Under the penal reform, convicts with up to two years left in sentences are eligible for release on probation, extending the period from one year. The decree will not apply to inmates in jail on murder, terrorism, domestic abuse or sexual assault charges.
“The regulation refers to crimes committed before July 1, 2016”.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey will defend its interests in northern Syria despite of internal problems, NTV reported. If they were not thrown in jail, suspects were discharged from their jobs.
Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan says tens of thousands of people have been detained since the failed coup.
“Where people work, mistakes can happen”, Mr Dimroth said, according to Reuters news agency.
Hurriyet columnist Akif Beki wrote on August 11 that “prisons are jam-packed” amid the post-coup purge and asked: “How can that many be arrested without making any space?”
Turkey has accused a Pennsylvania-based cleric, Fethullah Gulen, of being behind the coup attempt, and has requested his extradition from the United States.
It’s the latest fraught moment between the two countries after Turkey pledged in March to halt the flow of refugees from the Middle East to Europe under an accord with the European Union that was championed by Merkel.
Pro-Erdogan supporters burn a poster picturing US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen during a rally at Taksim square in Istanbul.
In an interview with the German business magazine “Wirtschaftswoche”, Turkish EU Minister Omer Celik called on the German government to “ban companies and organizations which are close to the (Gulen) movement”.
“Any terrorist organisation likes to exploit crises”, the source said, referring to the aftermath of the failed putsch which has seen a massive purge of the army, including the dismissal of nearly half Turkey’s generals and admirals.
In a similar operation on Tuesday, Turkish police raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects including CEOs.
Turkish authorities ordered the detention of almost 200 people, including leading businessmen, and seized their assets as an investigation into suspects in last month’s failed military rebellion shifted to the private sector. Although Gulen has denied the accusation, Turkey has demanded that the USA extradite him.
Erdogan is piling pressure on the United States to extradite Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile there.
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The discharges started just hours after the government issued a decree for the conditional release of some 38,000 prisoners under Turkey’s three-month long state of emergency that was declared following the coup.
