Almost 70,000 people in Turkey have been suspended or dismissed from their jobs, according to the latest figures cited by the state-run Anadolu news agency, affecting workers in the judiciary, the education system, media, health care and other sectors.
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Waving the Turkish national flag, demonstrators held aloft pictures of Erdogan and placards reading “For Democracy, Against Putsch” after a failed military coup earlier this month.
Sunday’s presidential decree puts the military commands directly under the defense ministry, puts all military hospitals under the authority of the health ministry, and also expands the Supreme Military Council – the body that makes decisions on military affairs and appointments – to include Turkey’s deputy prime ministers and its justice, foreign and interior ministers.
Turkey’s Western allies condemned the coup, but have also been rattled by the scale of the resulting crackdown.
Mass arrests in Turkey and widespread purges in the military and civil service in response to a July 15 attempt to overthrow Erdogan’s government have drawn criticism from European authorities.
He claimed that the United States had already given “signals” it was involved in the coup after a top American general expressed concern that many of Washington’s former Turkish military interlocutors were now in jail.
Erdogan fired nearly 1,400 members of the armed services for their suspected ties to Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen, Erdogan’s arch-nemesis, whom he accuses of masterminding the failed attempt to overthrow his leadership.
Major Sukru Seymen, the commander of the fugitive soldiers, is among the arrested suspects who bombed the hotel the president was staying at on the night of the July 15 coup attempt, Mugla Governor, Amir Cicek told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.
Turkey has dismissed 1,389 personnel from the armed forces for suspected links to the US-based cleric it blames for orchestrating a failed coup, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Sunday.
He claims to have been number six on a hit list – topped by Erdogan – to be killed by Gulen followers after the power grab.
On Saturday the government announced plans to close all military academies and bring land, naval and air forces under the control of the defence ministry.
The political strife in Turkey has also found expression in Germany, which is home to the biggest Turkish diaspora.
“Instead of thanking this government for thwarting this coup attempt, and for (maintaining) democracy, you are standing by the (plotters)”, Erdogan said.
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Through Saturday, Erdogan said, 18,699 people have been detained and 10,137 have been charged. The measures taken at the country’s highest court will remain in effect until the employees’ possible links to the coup attempt are assessed, the court said in a statement.
