Turkey has issued a decree for the conditional release of 38,000 prisoners in an apparent move to make space for thousands of people arrested as part of an investigation into last month’s failed coup. Some prisoners are excluded: people convicted of murder, domestic violence, sexual abuse or terrorism and other crimes against the state.
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Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the move was not an amnesty or a pardon, and the inmates were being freed on parole. “As a result of this regulation, approximately 38,000 people will be released from closed and open prisons at the first stage”.
On July 15 evening, Turkish authorities said a military coup attempt took place in the country.
Earlier in the day, Turkey had issued two decrees under emergency rule in which it dismissed more than 2,000 police officers and hundreds of members of the military and the BTK communication technology authority over the failed military coup.
There have been reports of severe overcrowding in jails since plotters unsuccessfully tried to overthrow the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Around 17,000, including soldiers, police, judges and journalists, now face trial, while nearly 11,600 of those originally held have since been released.
President Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to choke off businesses linked to the USA -based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom he blames for the coup attempt, describing his schools, firms and charities as “nests of terrorism”.
Thousands of people have been detained or arrested and tens of thousands more have been dismissed from their jobs in mass purges of suspected followers of Fethullah Gulen.
Police from a financial crimes unit launched dawn raids in Istanbul and 17 other provinces to root out supporters of Gulen’s movement, the privately run Dogan news agency reported.
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The government crackdown has raised concerns among European nations and human rights organizations, who have urged the Turkish government to show restraint.
