More than 10,000 public officials sacked in Turkey

By Fatih Cakmak, Yasemin Kalyoncuoglu, Ferdi Turkten and Zafer Fatih Beyaz

ANKARA

A total of 10,131 employee within public offices have been sacked by legislative decree published in the official gazette late Saturday.

This decree made it easier to sack public officials believed to be members of terrorist organizations or groups involved in activities against the country’s national security or those in contact with terrorist organizations or groups.

Thirty-two officials from the parliament, 183 from the Court of Cassation, 249 from Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs, 2,534 from Ministry of Justice, 102 from Foreign Ministry, 2,219 from Ministry of National Education, 2,774 from Ministry of Health, 101 from Turkish Armed Forces have been removed from their positions.

Fifteen media firms, including the Dicle News Agency and many newspapers and magazines were closed by the decree. These companies are believed to have spread propaganda for the PKK terror group.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU -- resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July last year. Since then, more than 700 security force members have been martyred and around 8,000 PKK terrorists killed or apprehended.

At least 1,082 police officers, including former, retired and dismissed have been stripped of their ranks by the decree because of links to FETO and parallel state.

Their gun licenses, retired police identification cards, pilot licenses and ship crew documents and passports have been cancelled. The officers will not be again assigned to their civil services and they can not benefit from rights provided depending upon their ranks. The also cannot establish a private security firm or partner or be employed by a private security firm.

Separately, the decree said those who were injured during the July 15 coup attempt would receive war veteran title.

The defeated coup left 241 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured. The government accuses Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) leader Fetullah Gulen of being the mastermind behind the putsch attempt and a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary, forming what is commonly known as the “parallel state”.

Gulen has lived in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999.

Turkey is currently under a state of emergency following the defeated coup and had the order extended three more months from Oct. 19.