Erdogan’s government said it has fired almost 22,000 education ministry workers, mostly teachers, taken steps to revoke the licenses of 21,000 other teachers at private schools and sacked or detained half a dozen university presidents in a campaign to root out alleged supporters of a USA -based Muslim cleric blamed for the failed insurrection.
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He also said that military purges would continue as the government roots out those who participated in the coup.
“It is really nonsensical”, Ibrahim Kalin said.
In a bid to calm markets roiled by the coup attempt, Turkey’s central bank cut a key interest rate Tuesday to shore up liquidity in the economy. “So this is sufficient ground”.
President Obama in a phone call with Erdogan on Tuesday expressed his support for the democratically elected civilian government and said the investigation should proceed in accordance “with the democratic principles that are enshrined in Turkey’s constitution”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Tuesday.
Erdogan said the government has sent request to the U.S. for extradition of Gulen.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Fethullah Gulen, a long-time resident of the US state of Pennsylvania, of orchestrating the July 15 abortive coup in which over 200 people were killed.
The latest purges were meant to blunt the influence of Gulen, an Erodgan rival who has been in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since the late 1990s and who the government has long accused of being behind a “parallel terrorist organization”. They follow earlier aggressive moves by Erdogan’s administration against Gulen loyalists in the government, police and judiciary following corruption probes targeting Erdogan associates and family members in late 2013 – prosecutions the government says were orchestrated by Gulen.
The education ministry said it made a decision to close 626 private schools and other establishments under investigation for “crimes against the constitutional order and the running of that order”, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. In addition, 257 people working at the office of the prime minister were dismissed and the Directorate of Religious Affairs announced it had sacked 492 staff including clerics, preachers and religious teachers.
The government’s response includes dismissing thousands of military and police officials, as well as prosecutors and judges.
The lira weakened to beyond 3 to the dollar after state broadcaster TRT said all university deans had been ordered to resign, recalling the sorts of broad purges seen in the wake of successful military coups of the past. Dozens of others were still being questioned.
Asked about the scale of the purges, U.S. State Department spokesperson Mark Toner cautioned Turkish authorities not to overreach.
“The types of arrests and roundups that you cite have not gone unnoticed by us”, he said.
Ahead of the vote, deputy PM Numan Kurtulmus said Turkey will suspend the European Human Rights Convention in line with an article contained within the agreement allowing for it in time of emergencies.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was accused of autocratic conduct before the insurrection, said the measure would counter threats to Turkish democracy.
Erdogan has vowed to clean the “virus” responsible for the plot from all state institutions.
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The violence surrounding the Friday night coup attempt claimed the lives of 210 government supporters and 24 coup plotters, according to the government.
