The Turkish government issued a series of decrees Wednesday, the most notable one paving the way for the provisional release of 38,000 convicted criminals.
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The government is extending an existing probation program that will grant 38,000 prisoners an immediate release if they have less than two years left on their sentence. Some prisoners are excluded who have convicted of murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse or terrorism and other crimes against the state committed after July 1. In addition, Bekir Bozdag highlighted that the decree has nothing to do with a possible amnesty and the crimes committed since 1 July are not included.
Turkey’s government announced in January that it would build 165 additional prisons to accommodate the growing inmate population.
Turkish police launched a vast operation on Thursday against businesses suspected of financing US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, accused by Ankara of masterminding July’s attempted coup, media reported. The prisoners have been released to accommodate the people who have been arrested for plotting a coup against the government.
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. Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded.
Turkey on Wednesday began freeing the first of some 38,000 prisoners not linked to the failed coup who are to be released in a move aimed at relieving pressure on prisons overcrowded with putsch suspects.
Turkish soldiers block Istanbul’s Bosphorus Brigde on July 15, 2016 in Istanbul.
Turkey, which has been on a crusade to wipe out all followers of Gulen, has issued another decree dismissing 2,360 police officers, military personnel and members of the state’s Information and Communication Technologies Authority for having ties to the exiled cleric.
Measures in Wednesday’s decrees will also enable former air force pilots to return to duty, making up for a deficit after the dismissal of military pilots in the purge.
Bozdag said on his Twitter account that the measure was not a pardon or an amnesty, the AP said.
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Citing justice ministry data obtained by Anadolu Agency, Reuters points out that “there were 213,499 prisoners in jail as of August 16, more than 26,000 above prison capacity”. “I hope the regulation will be beneficial for the convicts, their relatives, our people and the country”, he also wrote, without specifying the need for introducing the regulation.
