Education Minister Ismet Yilmaz said at least 20,000 teachers would be hired quickly to replace those dismissed, with school classes set to resume in mid-September after summer holidays.
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The Turkish treasury and a state agency that regulates foundations have taken over more than 1,200 foundations and associations, about 1,000 private educational institutions and student dormitories, 35 health care institutions, 19 labor groups and 15 universities, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported Saturday.
Turkish authorities detained a nephew of Fethullah Gulen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Ankara of orchestrating last weekend’s failed military coup, the state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday. While most of the detainees are military personnel, many judges and civil servants were also arrested.
The coup attempt claimed 260 lives, as well as 1,500 injured people, as rebel and loyalist soldiers fought each other, and a number of civilians were also killed by soldiers when they took to the streets to protest. The decree also extends the legal time a person can be detained to 30 days.
President Tayyip Erdogan tightened his grip on Turkey on Saturday, ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions in his first decree since imposing a state of emergency after the failed military coup.
“This is a day to unite, a day to stand up against coups and dictatorial regimes, a day to let the voice of the people be heard”, he said at the rally, organised by his secularist opposition CHP but also backed by the ruling Islamist-rooted AK Party and by other opposition groups.
Muhammet Sait Gulen will be taken to the capital Ankara after he was detained in Erzurum, the eastern region where his 75-year-old uncle is said to have developed his deep convictions, close to his birthplace of Korucuk.
Also targeted in the sweep was an alleged senior financier for US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, the reclusive spiritual leader who Turkey accuses of being the mastermind behind the botched attempt to overthrow Erdogan.
Mr Erdogan, who narrowly escaped capture and possible death during the coup attempt, said in an interview on Thursday that he would restructure the armed forces and bring in “fresh blood”.
“Majority are losers who think it is an honor to die for Fethullah Gulen’s command”, Bozdag said.
Turkey wants the United States to extradite Gulen.
Gulen denies the accusation and has condemned the uprising.
The video, released by police and broadcast by Turkish media, shows soldiers ushering men in suits, some of them with their hands bound, around a club area.
US Secretary of State John Kerry had sought concrete proof against Gulen from Turkey before any extradition proceeding could be initiated by the US government.
“We condemn this coup and we are clear about our desire to see democracy sustained and flourish in Turkey”.
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“Turkey needs to be reminded regularly that, after parts of the military tried to change the country, it would be a bitter irony now if the government would change the democratic state from above”, Michael Georg Link, director of the OSCE’s office for democratic institutions and human rights, told Germany’s rbb-Inforadio.
