And educators aren’t the only professionals the government has its eyes on: The Guardian reports more than 8,000 police officers have been fired and 6,000 soldiers have been arrested.
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A day earlier, the board demanded the resignations of 1,577 university deans, suggesting they may have had ties to the plotters behind Turkey’s failed military coup last week, which Turkey’s government has blamed on a US -based cleric.
Since the coup, around 50,000 civil servants, including judges, soldiers and teachers, have been either arrested or suspended from work.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is calling on Turkey to provide hard evidence that a U.S. -based cleric was behind a foiled coup attempt last weekend if it wants him extradited.
Turkey remains on edge days after a faction of the Turkish military launched a coup late Friday aimed at overthrowing the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has since then launched a massive crackdown inside the country that continued into Tuesday.
We are sorry to say that we were shocked to see their lack of active support when the rebel coup plotters were rolling their tanks over the people, when the people flocked into the streets to defend democracy for their government and the Parliament they had elected with their votes, were the target of rebel bullets and when the rebel jet fighters and helicopter gunships attacked them.
More than 20,000 private teachers have also had their licences revoked.
Germany has the largest ethnic Turkish community outside Turkey with some three million members.
“A deep split is emerging in Turkish society”, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper. Turkey is a world leader in the imprisonment of journalists; once independent television channels and newspapers have been taken over by the government or Erdogan’s supporters.
“It is ridiculous, irresponsible and false to suggest I had anything to do with the horrific failed coup”, the cleric said in a statement on Tuesday, accusing Erdogan of going to “any length necessary to solidify his power and persecute his critics”.
Regarding Turkey’s demand that Gulen be extradited, Yildirim compared the situation to the US hunt for Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks.
“The process with the USA for Gulen’s extradition has started, we will wait for court verdict and hope they will act fast”, he said. Thousands of education staff have been suspended after the coup attempt.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed Ankara had filed materials in electronic form with the US government, which officials were reviewing. He said any extradition request from Turkey, once submitted, would be evaluated under the terms of a treaty between the two countries and would not be made by Obama.
Eight soldiers have sought asylum in neighboring Greece and Turkey says they must be handed back or it will not help relations between the neighbors, which have always been uneasy.
Speaking in Turkish on the Al Jazeera English channel, Erdogan said: “It is clear it was a minority [of the armed forces]”. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced “serious alarm” on Tuesday and urged Turkey to allow independent monitors to visit those who have been detained.
“Coups are not a good thing”, Trudeau said in French when asked about Turkey at an Ottawa-area event.
Turkey scrapped capital punishment in 2004 in order to comply with one of the conditions for starting talks on future European Union membership.
Supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan shout slogans and wave Turkish national flags during a pro-government demonstration in Sarachane park in Istanbul, Turkey, July 19, 2016. “The situation is very bad for those concerned with long-term stability, democracy, and the rule of law”.
“We need unity … and brotherhood now”, he said. “There will be no restriction of movement other than for the suspects”, Simsek said.
Some 1,500 finance ministry officials have also been removed from their posts.
“The arrest of close to 3,000 judges and prosecutors, following the removal of more than a 1,000 of them as a outcome of the inquiry into bribery and corruption which started in 2013, further undermines the rule of law in Turkey”, she said in a briefing note.
The purge has gutted the leadership in the country’s security forces, with at least 118 generals and admirals detained, stripping the general-rank command of the Turkish military by a third, according to Turkish state broadcaster TRT.
In the uproar following the attempted military coup in Turkey, relations between Washington and Ankara, already badly strained, appear to be headed for new difficulty.
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Erdogan has remained in Istanbul since he flew back on Saturday from the holiday resort of Marmaris where he was staying when the coup struck.
