The number of complaints filed over Turkish government’s massive post-coup dismissals has hit 57,340 in August, according to the reports in Turkish media.
More than 150,000 people have lost their jobs since the last summer as part of the government’s crackdown in the aftermath of a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016, which targeted the alleged members of the Gülen movement, Kurdish minority, leftists, liberals and many from other opposition groups.
As of August, 57,340 people, who were dismissed from their jobs by arbitrary government decrees under the rule of emergency declared immediately after failed coup attempt, have applied to State of Emergency (OHAL) commissions, set up to investigate rights violations directly related to the loss of state jobs through the decrees. The commissions started receiving complaints on July 17, this year and the application period will be completed on September 14.
Meanwhile, over 50,000 people including thousands of former public workers who were earlier dismissed from their jobs remain behind bars pending trial. Human rights defenders earlier said that OHAL commissions were established only to avoid possible penalties from the European Court of Human Rights (EctHR).
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15 that killed 249 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with Turkey’s autocratic President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15. Turkey’s Justice Ministry announced on July 13 that 50,510 people have been arrested and 169,013 have been the subject of legal proceedings on coup charges since the failed coup. (SCF with turkeypurge.com)
