Yaşar Akkoyun, a former special forces officer who was expelled from the Turkish military by an emergency decree, was found dead in a lake in Switzerland, allegedly by suicide, the TR724 news website reported.
Akkoyun, 39, was found on January 7 in Lake Zug after a 10-day search. He had applied for asylum in Switzerland three years earlier, following his expulsion during Turkey’s purge of state institutions after an attempted coup in 2016.
According to news reports Akkoyun had attempted to take his own life six months earlier by setting himself on fire in his room in the refugee center. Struggling with the uncertainty of the asylum process, he reportedly told those around him that if he did not receive a residence permit, his body would be returned to Turkey.
Following the coup attempt, the Turkish government declared a state of emergency that remained in effect until July 19, 2018. During this period, the government carried out a purge of state institutions under the pretext of an anti-coup fight by issuing a number of government decrees. Over 130,000 public servants, including 4,156 judges and prosecutors, as well as more than 24,000 members of the armed forces were summarily removed from their jobs for alleged membership in or relationships with “terrorist organizations” by emergency decree-laws subject to neither judicial nor parliamentary scrutiny.
Dismissed public servants were not only fired from their jobs; they were also prohibited from working again in the public sector and 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.
