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Turkey dismisses 8,000 in ongoing post-coup purge

Xinhua, January 7, 2017 Adjust font size:

More than 8,000 people in Turkish military, police and other public institutions have been dismissed over their suspected links with the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO), private broadcaster CNN Turk reported Saturday.

Under three statutory decrees issued late Friday, 1,699 personnel were discharged in the Ministry of Justice, including eight members of the Council of State and one from the Supreme Electoral Council.

A total of 2,687 police officers including 53 high-ranked commissioners and 919 chief officers were removed from the Security General Directorate.

763 officers were dismissed, thus bringing the total number of people dismissed from the Turkish Armed Forces to 6,517, CNN Turk reported.

Some 786 people were dismissed from universities across the country, of which 631 were academicians and 155 were administrative staff.

Additionally, 838 in the Ministry of Heath have been also discharged. And 83 associations and foundations were shut down.

Meanwhile, 276 people, who had been formerly dismissed with previous statutory decrees, were reinstated to their jobs. And 11 newspapers which were closed as part of terror probes have been reopened.

According to the new law, Turkish citizens abroad who do not respond to judicial summons issued by courts or prosecutors within 90 days might face losing their citizenship.

The statutory decrees also said that police have been authorized to access identity information of internet subscribers for the purposes of investigating crimes committed online.

The new decrees were published as part of the state of emergency Turkey declared after the failed coup attempt in July last year. Endit