Turkey sacks over 18,000 personnel ahead of expected emergency rule lifting

Monday, 9 July 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan greets members of parliament from his ruling AK Party (AKP) as he arrives at the Turkish parliament in Ankara, Turkey, July 7, 2018. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

ANKARA (Reuters): Turkey issued a decree on Sunday, dismissing more than 18,000 civil servants, half of them being from the police force, ahead of this month’s expected lifting of a two-year-old state of emergency imposed after an attempted coup in July 2016.

The decree follows President Tayyip Erdoğan’s victory in last month’s presidential election and comes before he swears his oath on Monday, inaugurating a powerful executive presidency.

The decree dismissed 199 academics from universities across the country, as well as more than 5,000 personnel from the armed forces.

Turkish authorities had already dismissed around 160,000 civil servants since the failed military intervention, the UN human rights office said in March.Among those detained, more than 50,000 have been formally charged and kept in jail during their trials.

Turkey’s Western allies have criticised the crackdown. Critics of President Tayyip Erdoğan accuse him of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey says the measures are necessary to combat threats to national security.