In addition to the immediate release, the Turkish justice minister said the new regulations will speed up the release of 93,000 more inmates, but people convicted of terrorism, violent crimes or sexual offenses won’t be getting out early. “The punishment will be served outside through supervised released”, Bozdag said on Twitter.
Advertisement
Those to be set free include inmates who displayed good behavior and who have two years or less to serve of their prison terms.
The reform was one of a series of measures outlined on Wednesday in two decrees under a state of emergency declared after the July 15 failed putsch during which 240 people were killed.
In a separate decree, also issued Wednesday, the government dismissed 2,300 more officers from the police force, in addition to another 136 military officers and 196 employees from its information technology authority. The decrees must then be submitted to parliament but are not subject to review by the courts.
As part of countrywide purge of the army, police, and the courts that also expanded to universities and schools, the Erdogan government either suspended or detained almost 50,000 people in the wake of the insurrection.
Since the July 15 coup attempt, Erdogan has issued an attack against tens of thousand of citizens, including those who work in education, military, judiciary, media, local government and healthcare sectors. About 12,000 of them were released, but 18,000 others have been formally arrested and the rest remain in detention without being charged.
Turkey’s ex-Soviet ally Azerbaijan on Monday said it has launched a criminal investigation into the supporters of US-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for last month’s abortive coup.
“The allegations are a new manifestation of the twisted mentality, which for some time has been trying to wear down our country, by targeting our president and government”, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. In 2000, prisoners in Turkish jails numbered fewer than 50,000, according to ICPR.
Erdogan, for his part, has accused Western nations, including European Union countries, of helping to plan the failed coup attempt in Turkey last month. Erdogan says Gulen was behind the attempt by rogue troops using tanks and jets to overthrow the government.
“Especially since the year 2011 as a result of its incrementally Islamized internal and foreign policy, Turkey has become a central platform for action for Islamist groups in the Middle East”, the German officials said, according to ARD. Financial crime officers raided companies – including Akfa Holding and the A101 supermarket chain – in the city’s Uskudar and Umraniye districts.
Advertisement
The Turkish government has denied that abuses are taking place. He cautioned that the releases are not pardons but rather conditional releases.
