The prisoners have been released to accommodate the people who have been arrested for plotting a coup against the government.
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U.S. based cleric Fethullah Gulen at his home in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S. July 29, 2016. “The crimes committed after July 1 2016 are outside its scope”, Bozdag said.
The government is extending an existing probation program that will grant 38,000 prisoners an immediate release if they have less than two years left on their sentence.
Turkey has detained some 35,000 people for questioning over Turkey’s July 15 failed coup attempt.
I was not expecting it. Turkey, now grappling with upheaval after an attempted military coup against Erdogan in July, has said it will scrap the deal if isn’t granted visa waivers for its citizens traveling to the EU.
According to justice ministry data obtained by Anadolu agency, there were 213,499 prisoners in jail as of August 16, more than 26,000 above prison capacity. Gulen has denied the charge and condemned the coup.
Those dismissed were described as having links to cleric Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan turned enemy.
But Ozgur Gudem said in a statement on its website that two dozen people were detained in the police raid on its offices.
Turkey’s jails can accommodate about 180,000 prisoners.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the failed coup was masterminded by US -based cleric Fethullah Gulen and spearheaded by his followers within the military and other state institutions.
An Istanbul court on Tuesday banned the left-wing newspaper, which has a circulation of 7,500, after ruling it made propaganda for the banned PKK party and acted “as its de facto news outlet”, according to the court document.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said Germany was guilty of double standards and that it should be more supportive of Turkey in its fight against the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.
The failed coup attempt killed at least 290 people, including more than 100 “coup plotters”.
Four journalists covering the raid for other outlets were also detained.
Erdogan is piling pressure on the USA to extradite Gulen, who is in self-imposed exile there.
Erdogan, who has run Turkey since 2002, has emphasized the country’s role as a regional Islamic-oriented power as he’s tightened his grip over the country and stifled opposition.
Angrily dismissing those concerns, Turkish officials say they are rooting out a serious internal threat from followers of a USA -based cleric.
“What just happened at Ozgur Gundem, the historical Kurdish daily in Turkey, is unacceptable”.
Responding to the allegations, the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement that Germany’s allegations were “a new manifestation of a twisted mentality, which for some time has been trying to wear down our country, by targeting our president and our government”.
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He indicated that the “Turkish people who faced the fail coup need from all its friendly states a clear stance regarding the coup”.
