A former teacher who was fired by a government decree after a coup attempt in Turkey on July 15, 2016 died on Sunday following a work-related accident, the TR724 news website reported.
Soner Demir, 49, who began working as a motorcycle courier after being dismissed from public service based on allegations related to the coup attempt, died after a traffic accident in Ankara when a drunk driver hit him.
This is the latest incident in a series of work-related accidents that have resulted in the death of former civil servants who were forced into other jobs after being summarily dismissed from public service.
Turkey’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government declared a state of emergency following the July 2016 abortive putsch that remained in effect until July 19, 2018. During the state of emergency the AKP carried out a purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight by issuing a number of government decrees, known as KHKs, firing some 130,000 civil servants from their jobs due to their real or alleged connections to “terrorist organizations.”
Former public servants were not only fired from their jobs, they were also prohibited from working again in the public sector and from getting a passport. The government also made it difficult for them to work formally in the private sector. Notes were put on the social security database about dismissed public servants to deter potential employers.
Many purge victims have had to work in uninsured jobs with very little workplace safety.
There have been other cases of former public servants dying due to occupational accidents in physically demanding jobs.
Last year, former teacher Mehmet Ali Namlı, who began working as a carpenter, died as a result of a fire in his workshop. The fire broke out when Namlı poured benzine into a stove, which left him with severe burns. After spending several days in the hospital, the former teacher succumbed to his injuries.
