Turkish Education Minister İsmet Yılmaz said his government has dismissed about 33,000 teachers from their jobs following a failed coup attempt on July 15, 2016, Habertürk reported on Friday.
“No such an era was witnessed in the history of the republic. As a necessity and as result of it, about 33,000 teachers have been dismissed,” said Yılmaz during a fast-breaking [iftar] dinner in Ankara on Thursday night.
Noting that 14,000 other teachers have also been investigated on charges of involvement in illegal activities, Yılmaz said: “We have taken all these actions with fairness.”
Yılmaz also underlined that 20,000 new teachers have been appointed over the past one year and appointment of 20,000 others is underway.
Turkey survived a controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with 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 participants of the Gülen movement in jails.
Turkey has suspended or dismissed more than 150,000 judges, teachers, police and civil servants since July 15.
At least 161,751 people were detained or investigated and 50,334 people were arrested in Turkey in the framework of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt campaign targeting alleged members of the Gülen movement since the controversial coup attempt on July 15, 2016, according to statistics reported by state-run Anadolu news agency by basing on information taken from the officials from Turkey’s Justice Minsitry on June 13. (SCF with turkeypurge.com) June 23, 2017
